Jamia (جامعة) (or Jamiya) is the Arabic word for gathering. It can also refer to a mosque, or more generally, a university. In the latter sense it refers in official usage to a modern university, based on the Western model, as opposed to the medieval madrasa.[1] The term seems to be a translation of "university" or the French "université" and emerged in the middle of the 19th century; the earliest definite use in this sense appears in 1906 in Egypt
الخميس، 30 يناير 2020
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (/ˈɡɑːndi, ˈɡændi/;[2] 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer,[3] anti-colonial nationalist,[4] and political ethicist,[5] who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British Rule,[6] and in turn inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, is now used throughout the world.[7][8]
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India, Gandhi was trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, and called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to stay for 21 years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi raised a family, and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India. He set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.[9]
The same year Gandhi adopted the Indian loincloth, or short dhoti and, in the winter, a shawl, both woven with yarn hand-spun on a traditional Indian spinning wheel, or charkha, as a mark of identification with India's rural poor. Thereafter, he lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community, ate simple vegetarian food, and undertook long fasts as a means of self-purification and political protest. Bringing anti-colonial nationalism to the common Indians, Gandhi led them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India.
Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India.[10] In August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire[10] was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.[11] As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to stop religious violence. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78,[12] also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan.[12] Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating.[12][13] Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest.[13]
Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence. Gandhi is commonly, though not formally considered the Father of the Nation in India,[14][15] and was commonly called Bapu[16] (Gujarati: endearment for father,[17] papa[17][18]).
Biography
Early life and background
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi[19] was born on 2 October 1869[20] into an Indian Gujarati Hindu Modh Baniya family[21] in Porbandar (also known as Sudamapuri), a coastal town on the Kathiawar Peninsula and then part of the small princely state of Porbandar in the Kathiawar Agency of the Indian Empire. His father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), served as the diwan (chief minister) of Porbandar state.[22]
Although he only had an elementary education and had previously been a clerk in the state administration, Karamchand proved a capable chief minister.[23] During his tenure, Karamchand married four times. His first two wives died young, after each had given birth to a daughter, and his third marriage was childless. In 1857, Karamchand sought his third wife's permission to remarry; that year, he married Putlibai (1844–1891), who also came from Junagadh,[23] and was from a Pranami Vaishnava family.[24][25][26][27] Karamchand and Putlibai had three children over the ensuing decade: a son, Laxmidas (c. 1860–1914); a daughter, Raliatbehn (1862–1960); and another son, Karsandas (c. 1866–1913).[28][29]
On 2 October 1869, Putlibai gave birth to her last child, Mohandas, in a dark, windowless ground-floor room of the Gandhi family residence in Porbandar city. As a child, Gandhi was described by his sister Raliat as "restless as mercury, either playing or roaming about. One of his favourite pastimes was twisting dogs' ears."[30] The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and king Harishchandra, had a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. In his autobiography, he admits that they left an indelible impression on his mind. He writes: "It haunted me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without number." Gandhi's early self-identification with truth and love as supreme values is traceable to these epic characters.[31][32]
The family's religious background was eclectic. Gandhi's father Karamchand was Hindu and his mother Putlibai was from a Pranami Vaishnava Hindu family.[33][34] Gandhi's father was of Modh Baniya caste in the varna of Vaishya.[35] His mother came from the medieval Krishna bhakti-based Pranami tradition, whose religious texts include the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavata Purana, and a collection of 14 texts with teachings that the tradition believes to include the essence of the Vedas, the Quran and the Bible.[34][36] Gandhi was deeply influenced by his mother, an extremely pious lady who "would not think of taking her meals without her daily prayers... she would take the hardest vows and keep them without flinching. To keep two or three consecutive fasts was nothing to her."[37]
In 1874, Gandhi's father Karamchand left Porbandar for the smaller state of Rajkot, where he became a counsellor to its ruler, the Thakur Sahib; though Rajkot was a less prestigious state than Porbandar, the British regional political agency was located there, which gave the state's diwan a measure of security.[38] In 1876, Karamchand became diwan of Rajkot and was succeeded as diwan of Porbandar by his brother Tulsidas. His family then rejoined him in Rajkot.
At age 9, Gandhi entered the local school in Rajkot, near his home. There he studied the rudiments of arithmetic, history, the Gujarati language and geography.[39] At age 11, he joined the High School in Rajkot.[41] He was an average student, won some prizes, but was a shy and tongue tied student, with no interest in games; his only companions were books and school lessons.[42]
While at high school, Gandhi's elder brother introduced him to a Muslim friend named Sheikh Mehtab. Mehtab was older in age, taller and encouraged the strictly vegetarian boy to eat meat to gain height. He also took Mohandas to a brothel one day, though Mohandas "was struck blind and dumb in this den of vice," rebuffed the prostitutes' advances and was promptly sent out of the brothel. The experience caused Mohandas mental anguish, and he abandoned the company of Mehtab.[43]
In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and affectionately to "Ba") in an arranged marriage, according to the custom of the region at that time.[44] In the process, he lost a year at school, but was later allowed to make up by accelerating his studies.[45] His wedding was a joint event, where his brother and cousin were also married. Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said, "As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives." As was prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend much time at her parents' house, and away from her husband.[46]
Writing many years later, Mohandas described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride, "even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me." He later recalled feeling jealous and possessive of her, such as when she would visit a temple with her girlfriends, and being sexually lustful in his feelings for her.[47]
In late 1885, Gandhi's father Karamchand died.[48] Gandhi, then 16 years old, and his wife of age 17 had their first baby, who survived only a few days. The two deaths anguished Gandhi.[48] The Gandhi couple had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal, born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900.[44]
In November 1887, the 18-year-old Gandhi graduated from high school in Ahmedabad.[49] In January 1888, he enrolled at Samaldas College in Bhavnagar State, then the sole degree-granting institution of higher education in the region. But he dropped out and returned to his family in Porbandar.[50]
Three years in London
Student of law
Gandhi came from a poor family, and he had dropped out of the cheapest college he could afford.[51] Mavji Dave Joshiji, a Brahmin priest and family friend, advised Gandhi and his family that he should consider law studies in London.[52] In July 1888, his wife Kasturba gave birth to their first surviving son, Harilal.[53] His mother was not comfortable about Gandhi leaving his wife and family, and going so far from home. Gandhi's uncle Tulsidas also tried to dissuade his nephew. Gandhi wanted to go. To persuade his wife and mother, Gandhi made a vow in front of his mother that he would abstain from meat, alcohol and women. Gandhi's brother Laxmidas, who was already a lawyer, cheered Gandhi's London studies plan and offered to support him. Putlibai gave Gandhi her permission and blessing.[50][54]
On 10 August 1888, Gandhi aged 18, left Porbandar for Mumbai, then known as Bombay. Upon arrival, he stayed with the local Modh Bania community while waiting for the ship travel arrangements. The head of the community knew Gandhi's father. After learning Gandhi's plans, he and other elders warned Gandhi that England would tempt him to compromise his religion, and eat and drink in Western ways. Gandhi informed them of his promise to his mother and her blessings. The local chief disregarded it, and excommunicated him from his caste. But Gandhi ignored this, and on 4 September, he sailed from Bombay to London. His brother saw him off.[53][55] Gandhi attended University College, London which is a constituent college of University of London.
At UCL, he studied law and jurisprudence and was invited to enroll at Inner Temple with the intention of becoming a barrister. His childhood shyness and self withdrawal had continued through his teens, and he remained so when he arrived in London, but he joined a public speaking practice group and overcame this handicap to practise law.[56]
Vegetarianism and committee work
His time in London was influenced by the vow he had made to his mother. He tried to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons. However, he could not appreciate the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and was frequently hungry until he found one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by Henry Salt's writing, he joined the London Vegetarian Society and was elected to its executive committee[57] under the aegis of its president and benefactor Arnold Hills. An achievement while on the committee was the establishment of a Bayswater chapter.[26] Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original.[57]
Gandhi had a friendly and productive relationship with Hills, but the two men took a different view on the continued LVS membership of fellow committee member Dr Thomas Allinson. Their disagreement is the first known example of Gandhi challenging authority, despite his shyness and temperamental disinclination towards confrontation.
Allinson had been promoting newly available birth control methods, but Hills disapproved of these, believing they undermined public morality. He believed vegetarianism to be a moral movement and that Allinson should therefore no longer remain a member of the LVS. Gandhi shared Hills views on the dangers of birth control, but defended Allinson's right to differ.[58] It would have been hard for Gandhi to challenge Hills; Hills was 12 years his senior and unlike Gandhi, highly eloquent. He bankrolled the LVS and was a captain of industry with his Thames Ironworks company employing more than 6,000 people in the East End of London. He was also a highly accomplished sportsman who would go on to found the football club West Ham United.
The question deeply interested me...I had a high regard for Mr. Hills and his generosity. But I thought it was quite improper to exclude a man from a vegetarian society simply because he refused to regard puritan morals as one of the objects of the society[59]
A motion to remove Allinson was raised, and was debated and voted on by the committee. Gandhi’s shyness was an obstacle to his defence of Allinson at the committee meeting. He wrote his views down on paper but shyness prevented him reading out his arguments, so Hills, the President, asked another committee member to read them out for him. Although some other members of the committee agreed with Gandhi, the vote was lost and Allinson excluded. There were no hard feelings, with Hills proposing the toast at the LVS farewell dinner in honour of Gandhi’s return to India.[60]
Called to the bar
Gandhi, at age 22, was called to the bar in June 1891 and then left London for India, where he learned that his mother had died while he was in London and that his family had kept the news from him.[57] His attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed because he was psychologically unable to cross-examine witnesses. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but he was forced to stop when he ran afoul of a British officer Sam Sunny.[26][57]
In 1893, a Muslim merchant in Kathiawar named Dada Abdullah contacted Gandhi. Abdullah owned a large successful shipping business in South Africa. His distant cousin in Johannesburg needed a lawyer, and they preferred someone with Kathiawari heritage. Gandhi inquired about his pay for the work. They offered a total salary of £105 (~$17,200 in 2019 money) plus travel expenses. He accepted it, knowing that it would be at least a one-year commitment in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, also a part of the British Empire.[26][61]
Civil rights activist in South Africa (1893–1914)
In April 1893, Gandhi aged 23, set sail for South Africa to be the lawyer for Abdullah's cousin.[61][62] He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and politics.[63][64]
Immediately upon arriving in South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination because of his skin colour and heritage, like all people of colour.[65] He was not allowed to sit with European passengers in the stagecoach and told to sit on the floor near the driver, then beaten when he refused; elsewhere he was kicked into a gutter for daring to walk near a house, in another instance thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to leave the first-class.[66][67] He sat in the train station, shivering all night and pondering if he should return to India or protest for his rights.[67] He chose to protest and was allowed to board the train the next day.[68] In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.[69] Indians were not allowed to walk on public footpaths in South Africa. Gandhi was kicked by a police officer out of the footpath onto the street without warning.[70]
When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, according to Herman, he thought of himself as "a Briton first, and an Indian second".[71] However, the prejudice against him and his fellow Indians from British people that Gandhi experienced and observed deeply bothered him. He found it humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices.[67] Gandhi began to question his people's standing in the British Empire.[72]
The Abdullah case that had brought him to South Africa concluded in May 1894, and the Indian community organised a farewell party for Gandhi as he prepared to return to India.[73] However, a new Natal government discriminatory proposal led to Gandhi extending his original period of stay in South Africa. He planned to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote, a right then proposed to be an exclusive European right. He asked Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, to reconsider his position on this bill.[63] Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,[26][68] and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him[74] and he escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. However, he refused to press charges against any member of the mob
During the Boer War, Gandhi volunteered in 1900 to form a group of stretcher-bearers as the Natal Indian Ambulance Corps. According to Arthur Herman, Gandhi wanted to disprove the imperial British stereotype that Hindus were not fit for "manly" activities involving danger and exertion, unlike the Muslim "martial races".[75] Gandhi raised eleven hundred Indian volunteers, to support British combat troops against the Boers. They were trained and medically certified to serve on the front lines. They were auxiliaries at the Battle of Colenso to a White volunteer ambulance corps. At the battle of Spion Kop Gandhi and his bearers moved to the front line and had to carry wounded soldiers for miles to a field hospital because the terrain was too rough for the ambulances. Gandhi and thirty-seven other Indians received the Queen's South Africa Medal.[76]
In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian and Chinese populations. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or nonviolent protest, for the first time.[77] According to Anthony Parel, Gandhi was also influenced by the Tamil text Tirukkuṛaḷ because Leo Tolstoy mentioned it in their correspondence that began with "A Letter to a Hindu".[78][79] Gandhi urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. Gandhi's ideas of protests, persuasion skills and public relations had emerged. He took these back to India in 1915.[80][81]
Europeans, Indians and Africans
Gandhi focused his attention on Indians while in South Africa. He was not interested in politics. This changed after he was discriminated against and bullied, such as by being thrown out of a train coach because of his skin colour by a white train official. After several such incidents with Whites in South Africa, Gandhi's thinking and focus changed, and he felt he must resist this and fight for rights. He entered politics by forming the Natal Indian Congress.[82] According to Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed, Gandhi's views on racism are contentious, and in some cases, distressing to those who admire him. Gandhi suffered persecution from the beginning in South Africa. Like with other coloured people, white officials denied him his rights, and the press and those in the streets bullied and called him a "parasite", "semi-barbarous", "canker", "squalid coolie", "yellow man", and other epithets. People would spit on him as an expression of racial hate.[83]
While in South Africa, Gandhi focused on racial persecution of Indians but ignored those of Africans. In some cases, state Desai and Vahed, his behaviour was one of being a willing part of racial stereotyping and African exploitation.[83] During a speech in September 1896, Gandhi complained that the whites in the British colony of South Africa were degrading Indian Hindus and Muslims to "a level of Kaffir".[84] Scholars cite it as an example of evidence that Gandhi at that time thought of Indians and black South Africans differently.[83] As another example given by Herman, Gandhi, at age 24, prepared a legal brief for the Natal Assembly in 1895, seeking voting rights for Indians. Gandhi cited race history and European Orientalists' opinions that "Anglo-Saxons and Indians are sprung from the same Aryan stock or rather the Indo-European peoples", and argued that Indians should not be grouped with the Africans.[73]
Years later, Gandhi and his colleagues served and helped Africans as nurses and by opposing racism, according to the Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela. The general image of Gandhi, state Desai and Vahed, has been reinvented since his assassination as if he was always a saint, when in reality his life was more complex, contained inconvenient truths and was one that evolved over time.[83] In contrast, other Africa scholars state the evidence points to a rich history of co-operation and efforts by Gandhi and Indian people with nonwhite South Africans against persecution of Africans and the Apartheid.[85]
In 1906, when the British declared war against the Zulu Kingdom in Natal, Gandhi at age 36, sympathised with the Zulus and encouraged the Indian volunteers to help as an ambulance unit.[86] He argued that Indians should participate in the war efforts to change attitudes and perceptions of the British people against the coloured people.[87] Gandhi, a group of 20 Indians and black people of South Africa volunteered as a stretcher-bearer corps to treat wounded British soldiers and the opposite side of the war: Zulu victims.
White soldiers stopped Gandhi and team from treating the injured Zulu, and some African stretcher-bearers with Gandhi were shot dead by the British. The medical team commanded by Gandhi operated for less than two months.[86] Gandhi volunteering to help as a "staunch loyalist" during the Zulu and other wars made no difference in the British attitude, states Herman, and the African experience was a part of his great disillusionment with the West, transforming him into an "uncompromising non-cooperator".[87]
In 1910, Gandhi established, with the help of his friend Hermann Kallenbach, an idealistic community they named "Tolstoy Farm" near Johannesburg.[88] There he nurtured his policy of peaceful resistance.[89]
In the years after black South Africans gained the right to vote in South Africa (1994), Gandhi was proclaimed a national hero with numerous monuments.[90]
Struggle for Indian independence (1915–1947)
At the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, conveyed to him by C. F. Andrews, Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He brought an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and community organiser.
Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily by Gokhale. Gokhale was a key leader of the Congress Party best known for his restraint and moderation, and his insistence on working inside the system. Gandhi took Gokhale's liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and transformed it to make it look Indian.[91]
Gandhi took leadership of the Congress in 1920 and began escalating demands until on 26 January 1930 the Indian National Congress declared the independence of India. The British did not recognise the declaration but negotiations ensued, with the Congress taking a role in provincial government in the late 1930s. Gandhi and the Congress withdrew their support of the Raj when the Viceroy declared war on Germany in September 1939 without consultation. Tensions escalated until Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942 and the British responded by imprisoning him and tens of thousands of Congress leaders. Meanwhile, the Muslim League did co-operate with Britain and moved, against Gandhi's strong opposition, to demands for a totally separate Muslim state of Pakistan. In August 1947 the British partitioned the land with India and Pakistan each achieving independence on terms that Gandhi disapproved.[92]
Role in World War I
In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi.[93] Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war effort.[94][95] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote "To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them... If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army."[96] He did, however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."[97]
Gandhi's war recruitment campaign brought into question his consistency on nonviolence. Gandhi's private secretary noted that "The question of the consistency between his creed of 'Ahimsa' (nonviolence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been discussed ever since."[94]
Champaran agitations
Gandhi's first major achievement came in 1917 with the Champaran agitation in Bihar. The Champaran agitation pitted the local peasantry against their largely British landlords who were backed by the local administration. The peasantry was forced to grow Indigofera, a cash crop for Indigo dye whose demand had been declining over two decades, and were forced to sell their crops to the planters at a fixed price. Unhappy with this, the peasantry appealed to Gandhi at his ashram in Ahmedabad. Pursuing a strategy of nonviolent protest, Gandhi took the administration by surprise and won concessions from the authorities.[98]
Kheda agitations
In 1918, Kheda was hit by floods and famine and the peasantry was demanding relief from taxes. Gandhi moved his headquarters to Nadiad,[99] organising scores of supporters and fresh volunteers from the region, the most notable being Vallabhbhai Patel.[100] Using non-co-operation as a technique, Gandhi initiated a signature campaign where peasants pledged non-payment of revenue even under the threat of confiscation of land. A social boycott of mamlatdars and talatdars (revenue officials within the district) accompanied the agitation. Gandhi worked hard to win public support for the agitation across the country. For five months, the administration refused but finally in end-May 1918, the Government gave way on important provisions and relaxed the conditions of payment of revenue tax until the famine ended. In Kheda, Vallabhbhai Patel represented the farmers in negotiations with the British, who suspended revenue collection and released all the prisoners.[101]
Khilafat movement
In 1919, following World War I, Gandhi (aged 49) sought political co-operation from Muslims in his fight against British imperialism by supporting the Ottoman Empire that had been defeated in the World War. Before this initiative of Gandhi, communal disputes and religious riots between Hindus and Muslims were common in British India, such as the riots of 1917–18. Gandhi had already supported the British crown with resources and by recruiting Indian soldiers to fight the war in Europe on the British side. This effort of Gandhi was in part motivated by the British promise to reciprocate the help with swaraj (self-government) to Indians after the end of World War I.[102] The British government, instead of self government, had offered minor reforms instead, disappointing Gandhi.[103] Gandhi announced his satyagraha (civil disobedience) intentions. The British colonial officials made their counter move by passing the Rowlatt Act, to block Gandhi's movement. The Act allowed the British government to treat civil disobedience participants as criminals and gave it the legal basis to arrest anyone for "preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without judicial review or any need for a trial".[104]
Gandhi felt that Hindu-Muslim co-operation was necessary for political progress against the British. He leveraged the Khilafat movement, wherein Sunni Muslims in India, their leaders such as the sultans of princely states in India and Ali brothers championed the Turkish Caliph as a solidarity symbol of Sunni Islamic community (ummah). They saw the Caliph as their means to support Islam and the Islamic law after the defeat of Ottoman Empire in World War I.[105][106][107] Gandhi's support to the Khilafat movement led to mixed results. It initially led to a strong Muslim support for Gandhi. However, the Hindu leaders including Rabindranath Tagore questioned Gandhi's leadership because they were largely against recognising or supporting the Sunni Islamic Caliph in Turkey.[104][108][109]
The increasing Muslim support for Gandhi, after he championed the Caliph's cause, temporarily stopped the Hindu-Muslim communal violence. It offered evidence of inter-communal harmony in joint Rowlatt satyagraha demonstration rallies, raising Gandhi's stature as the political leader to the British.[110][111] His support for the Khilafat movement also helped him sideline Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who had announced his opposition to the satyagraha non-cooperation movement approach of Gandhi. Jinnah began creating his independent support, and later went on to lead the demand for West and East Pakistan.[112][113]
By the end of 1922 the Khilafat movement had collapsed.[114] Turkey's Ataturk had ended the Caliphate, Khilafat movement ended, and Muslim support for Gandhi largely evaporated.[106][107] Muslim leaders and delegates abandoned Gandhi and his Congress.[115] Hindu-Muslim communal conflicts reignited. Deadly religious riots re-appeared in numerous cities, with 91 in United Provinces of Agra and Oudh alone
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, western India, Gandhi was trained in law at the Inner Temple, London, and called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891. After two uncertain years in India, where he was unable to start a successful law practice, he moved to South Africa in 1893 to represent an Indian merchant in a lawsuit. He went on to stay for 21 years. It was in South Africa that Gandhi raised a family, and first employed nonviolent resistance in a campaign for civil rights. In 1915, aged 45, he returned to India. He set about organising peasants, farmers, and urban labourers to protest against excessive land-tax and discrimination. Assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns for easing poverty, expanding women's rights, building religious and ethnic amity, ending untouchability, and above all for achieving Swaraj or self-rule.[9]
The same year Gandhi adopted the Indian loincloth, or short dhoti and, in the winter, a shawl, both woven with yarn hand-spun on a traditional Indian spinning wheel, or charkha, as a mark of identification with India's rural poor. Thereafter, he lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community, ate simple vegetarian food, and undertook long fasts as a means of self-purification and political protest. Bringing anti-colonial nationalism to the common Indians, Gandhi led them in challenging the British-imposed salt tax with the 400 km (250 mi) Dandi Salt March in 1930, and later in calling for the British to Quit India in 1942. He was imprisoned for many years, upon many occasions, in both South Africa and India.
Gandhi's vision of an independent India based on religious pluralism was challenged in the early 1940s by a new Muslim nationalism which was demanding a separate Muslim homeland carved out of India.[10] In August 1947, Britain granted independence, but the British Indian Empire[10] was partitioned into two dominions, a Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.[11] As many displaced Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs made their way to their new lands, religious violence broke out, especially in the Punjab and Bengal. Eschewing the official celebration of independence in Delhi, Gandhi visited the affected areas, attempting to provide solace. In the months following, he undertook several fasts unto death to stop religious violence. The last of these, undertaken on 12 January 1948 when he was 78,[12] also had the indirect goal of pressuring India to pay out some cash assets owed to Pakistan.[12] Some Indians thought Gandhi was too accommodating.[12][13] Among them was Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who assassinated Gandhi on 30 January 1948 by firing three bullets into his chest.[13]
Gandhi's birthday, 2 October, is commemorated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday, and worldwide as the International Day of Nonviolence. Gandhi is commonly, though not formally considered the Father of the Nation in India,[14][15] and was commonly called Bapu[16] (Gujarati: endearment for father,[17] papa[17][18]).
Biography
Early life and background
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi[19] was born on 2 October 1869[20] into an Indian Gujarati Hindu Modh Baniya family[21] in Porbandar (also known as Sudamapuri), a coastal town on the Kathiawar Peninsula and then part of the small princely state of Porbandar in the Kathiawar Agency of the Indian Empire. His father, Karamchand Uttamchand Gandhi (1822–1885), served as the diwan (chief minister) of Porbandar state.[22]
Although he only had an elementary education and had previously been a clerk in the state administration, Karamchand proved a capable chief minister.[23] During his tenure, Karamchand married four times. His first two wives died young, after each had given birth to a daughter, and his third marriage was childless. In 1857, Karamchand sought his third wife's permission to remarry; that year, he married Putlibai (1844–1891), who also came from Junagadh,[23] and was from a Pranami Vaishnava family.[24][25][26][27] Karamchand and Putlibai had three children over the ensuing decade: a son, Laxmidas (c. 1860–1914); a daughter, Raliatbehn (1862–1960); and another son, Karsandas (c. 1866–1913).[28][29]
On 2 October 1869, Putlibai gave birth to her last child, Mohandas, in a dark, windowless ground-floor room of the Gandhi family residence in Porbandar city. As a child, Gandhi was described by his sister Raliat as "restless as mercury, either playing or roaming about. One of his favourite pastimes was twisting dogs' ears."[30] The Indian classics, especially the stories of Shravana and king Harishchandra, had a great impact on Gandhi in his childhood. In his autobiography, he admits that they left an indelible impression on his mind. He writes: "It haunted me and I must have acted Harishchandra to myself times without number." Gandhi's early self-identification with truth and love as supreme values is traceable to these epic characters.[31][32]
The family's religious background was eclectic. Gandhi's father Karamchand was Hindu and his mother Putlibai was from a Pranami Vaishnava Hindu family.[33][34] Gandhi's father was of Modh Baniya caste in the varna of Vaishya.[35] His mother came from the medieval Krishna bhakti-based Pranami tradition, whose religious texts include the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavata Purana, and a collection of 14 texts with teachings that the tradition believes to include the essence of the Vedas, the Quran and the Bible.[34][36] Gandhi was deeply influenced by his mother, an extremely pious lady who "would not think of taking her meals without her daily prayers... she would take the hardest vows and keep them without flinching. To keep two or three consecutive fasts was nothing to her."[37]
In 1874, Gandhi's father Karamchand left Porbandar for the smaller state of Rajkot, where he became a counsellor to its ruler, the Thakur Sahib; though Rajkot was a less prestigious state than Porbandar, the British regional political agency was located there, which gave the state's diwan a measure of security.[38] In 1876, Karamchand became diwan of Rajkot and was succeeded as diwan of Porbandar by his brother Tulsidas. His family then rejoined him in Rajkot.
At age 9, Gandhi entered the local school in Rajkot, near his home. There he studied the rudiments of arithmetic, history, the Gujarati language and geography.[39] At age 11, he joined the High School in Rajkot.[41] He was an average student, won some prizes, but was a shy and tongue tied student, with no interest in games; his only companions were books and school lessons.[42]
While at high school, Gandhi's elder brother introduced him to a Muslim friend named Sheikh Mehtab. Mehtab was older in age, taller and encouraged the strictly vegetarian boy to eat meat to gain height. He also took Mohandas to a brothel one day, though Mohandas "was struck blind and dumb in this den of vice," rebuffed the prostitutes' advances and was promptly sent out of the brothel. The experience caused Mohandas mental anguish, and he abandoned the company of Mehtab.[43]
In May 1883, the 13-year-old Mohandas was married to 14-year-old Kasturbai Makhanji Kapadia (her first name was usually shortened to "Kasturba", and affectionately to "Ba") in an arranged marriage, according to the custom of the region at that time.[44] In the process, he lost a year at school, but was later allowed to make up by accelerating his studies.[45] His wedding was a joint event, where his brother and cousin were also married. Recalling the day of their marriage, he once said, "As we didn't know much about marriage, for us it meant only wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives." As was prevailing tradition, the adolescent bride was to spend much time at her parents' house, and away from her husband.[46]
Writing many years later, Mohandas described with regret the lustful feelings he felt for his young bride, "even at school I used to think of her, and the thought of nightfall and our subsequent meeting was ever haunting me." He later recalled feeling jealous and possessive of her, such as when she would visit a temple with her girlfriends, and being sexually lustful in his feelings for her.[47]
In late 1885, Gandhi's father Karamchand died.[48] Gandhi, then 16 years old, and his wife of age 17 had their first baby, who survived only a few days. The two deaths anguished Gandhi.[48] The Gandhi couple had four more children, all sons: Harilal, born in 1888; Manilal, born in 1892; Ramdas, born in 1897; and Devdas, born in 1900.[44]
In November 1887, the 18-year-old Gandhi graduated from high school in Ahmedabad.[49] In January 1888, he enrolled at Samaldas College in Bhavnagar State, then the sole degree-granting institution of higher education in the region. But he dropped out and returned to his family in Porbandar.[50]
Three years in London
Student of law
Gandhi came from a poor family, and he had dropped out of the cheapest college he could afford.[51] Mavji Dave Joshiji, a Brahmin priest and family friend, advised Gandhi and his family that he should consider law studies in London.[52] In July 1888, his wife Kasturba gave birth to their first surviving son, Harilal.[53] His mother was not comfortable about Gandhi leaving his wife and family, and going so far from home. Gandhi's uncle Tulsidas also tried to dissuade his nephew. Gandhi wanted to go. To persuade his wife and mother, Gandhi made a vow in front of his mother that he would abstain from meat, alcohol and women. Gandhi's brother Laxmidas, who was already a lawyer, cheered Gandhi's London studies plan and offered to support him. Putlibai gave Gandhi her permission and blessing.[50][54]
On 10 August 1888, Gandhi aged 18, left Porbandar for Mumbai, then known as Bombay. Upon arrival, he stayed with the local Modh Bania community while waiting for the ship travel arrangements. The head of the community knew Gandhi's father. After learning Gandhi's plans, he and other elders warned Gandhi that England would tempt him to compromise his religion, and eat and drink in Western ways. Gandhi informed them of his promise to his mother and her blessings. The local chief disregarded it, and excommunicated him from his caste. But Gandhi ignored this, and on 4 September, he sailed from Bombay to London. His brother saw him off.[53][55] Gandhi attended University College, London which is a constituent college of University of London.
At UCL, he studied law and jurisprudence and was invited to enroll at Inner Temple with the intention of becoming a barrister. His childhood shyness and self withdrawal had continued through his teens, and he remained so when he arrived in London, but he joined a public speaking practice group and overcame this handicap to practise law.[56]
Vegetarianism and committee work
His time in London was influenced by the vow he had made to his mother. He tried to adopt "English" customs, including taking dancing lessons. However, he could not appreciate the bland vegetarian food offered by his landlady and was frequently hungry until he found one of London's few vegetarian restaurants. Influenced by Henry Salt's writing, he joined the London Vegetarian Society and was elected to its executive committee[57] under the aegis of its president and benefactor Arnold Hills. An achievement while on the committee was the establishment of a Bayswater chapter.[26] Some of the vegetarians he met were members of the Theosophical Society, which had been founded in 1875 to further universal brotherhood, and which was devoted to the study of Buddhist and Hindu literature. They encouraged Gandhi to join them in reading the Bhagavad Gita both in translation as well as in the original.[57]
Gandhi had a friendly and productive relationship with Hills, but the two men took a different view on the continued LVS membership of fellow committee member Dr Thomas Allinson. Their disagreement is the first known example of Gandhi challenging authority, despite his shyness and temperamental disinclination towards confrontation.
Allinson had been promoting newly available birth control methods, but Hills disapproved of these, believing they undermined public morality. He believed vegetarianism to be a moral movement and that Allinson should therefore no longer remain a member of the LVS. Gandhi shared Hills views on the dangers of birth control, but defended Allinson's right to differ.[58] It would have been hard for Gandhi to challenge Hills; Hills was 12 years his senior and unlike Gandhi, highly eloquent. He bankrolled the LVS and was a captain of industry with his Thames Ironworks company employing more than 6,000 people in the East End of London. He was also a highly accomplished sportsman who would go on to found the football club West Ham United.
The question deeply interested me...I had a high regard for Mr. Hills and his generosity. But I thought it was quite improper to exclude a man from a vegetarian society simply because he refused to regard puritan morals as one of the objects of the society[59]
A motion to remove Allinson was raised, and was debated and voted on by the committee. Gandhi’s shyness was an obstacle to his defence of Allinson at the committee meeting. He wrote his views down on paper but shyness prevented him reading out his arguments, so Hills, the President, asked another committee member to read them out for him. Although some other members of the committee agreed with Gandhi, the vote was lost and Allinson excluded. There were no hard feelings, with Hills proposing the toast at the LVS farewell dinner in honour of Gandhi’s return to India.[60]
Called to the bar
Gandhi, at age 22, was called to the bar in June 1891 and then left London for India, where he learned that his mother had died while he was in London and that his family had kept the news from him.[57] His attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed because he was psychologically unable to cross-examine witnesses. He returned to Rajkot to make a modest living drafting petitions for litigants, but he was forced to stop when he ran afoul of a British officer Sam Sunny.[26][57]
In 1893, a Muslim merchant in Kathiawar named Dada Abdullah contacted Gandhi. Abdullah owned a large successful shipping business in South Africa. His distant cousin in Johannesburg needed a lawyer, and they preferred someone with Kathiawari heritage. Gandhi inquired about his pay for the work. They offered a total salary of £105 (~$17,200 in 2019 money) plus travel expenses. He accepted it, knowing that it would be at least a one-year commitment in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, also a part of the British Empire.[26][61]
Civil rights activist in South Africa (1893–1914)
In April 1893, Gandhi aged 23, set sail for South Africa to be the lawyer for Abdullah's cousin.[61][62] He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics and politics.[63][64]
Immediately upon arriving in South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination because of his skin colour and heritage, like all people of colour.[65] He was not allowed to sit with European passengers in the stagecoach and told to sit on the floor near the driver, then beaten when he refused; elsewhere he was kicked into a gutter for daring to walk near a house, in another instance thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg after refusing to leave the first-class.[66][67] He sat in the train station, shivering all night and pondering if he should return to India or protest for his rights.[67] He chose to protest and was allowed to board the train the next day.[68] In another incident, the magistrate of a Durban court ordered Gandhi to remove his turban, which he refused to do.[69] Indians were not allowed to walk on public footpaths in South Africa. Gandhi was kicked by a police officer out of the footpath onto the street without warning.[70]
When Gandhi arrived in South Africa, according to Herman, he thought of himself as "a Briton first, and an Indian second".[71] However, the prejudice against him and his fellow Indians from British people that Gandhi experienced and observed deeply bothered him. He found it humiliating, struggling to understand how some people can feel honour or superiority or pleasure in such inhumane practices.[67] Gandhi began to question his people's standing in the British Empire.[72]
The Abdullah case that had brought him to South Africa concluded in May 1894, and the Indian community organised a farewell party for Gandhi as he prepared to return to India.[73] However, a new Natal government discriminatory proposal led to Gandhi extending his original period of stay in South Africa. He planned to assist Indians in opposing a bill to deny them the right to vote, a right then proposed to be an exclusive European right. He asked Joseph Chamberlain, the British Colonial Secretary, to reconsider his position on this bill.[63] Though unable to halt the bill's passage, his campaign was successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa. He helped found the Natal Indian Congress in 1894,[26][68] and through this organisation, he moulded the Indian community of South Africa into a unified political force. In January 1897, when Gandhi landed in Durban, a mob of white settlers attacked him[74] and he escaped only through the efforts of the wife of the police superintendent. However, he refused to press charges against any member of the mob
During the Boer War, Gandhi volunteered in 1900 to form a group of stretcher-bearers as the Natal Indian Ambulance Corps. According to Arthur Herman, Gandhi wanted to disprove the imperial British stereotype that Hindus were not fit for "manly" activities involving danger and exertion, unlike the Muslim "martial races".[75] Gandhi raised eleven hundred Indian volunteers, to support British combat troops against the Boers. They were trained and medically certified to serve on the front lines. They were auxiliaries at the Battle of Colenso to a White volunteer ambulance corps. At the battle of Spion Kop Gandhi and his bearers moved to the front line and had to carry wounded soldiers for miles to a field hospital because the terrain was too rough for the ambulances. Gandhi and thirty-seven other Indians received the Queen's South Africa Medal.[76]
In 1906, the Transvaal government promulgated a new Act compelling registration of the colony's Indian and Chinese populations. At a mass protest meeting held in Johannesburg on 11 September that year, Gandhi adopted his still evolving methodology of Satyagraha (devotion to the truth), or nonviolent protest, for the first time.[77] According to Anthony Parel, Gandhi was also influenced by the Tamil text Tirukkuṛaḷ because Leo Tolstoy mentioned it in their correspondence that began with "A Letter to a Hindu".[78][79] Gandhi urged Indians to defy the new law and to suffer the punishments for doing so. Gandhi's ideas of protests, persuasion skills and public relations had emerged. He took these back to India in 1915.[80][81]
Europeans, Indians and Africans
Gandhi focused his attention on Indians while in South Africa. He was not interested in politics. This changed after he was discriminated against and bullied, such as by being thrown out of a train coach because of his skin colour by a white train official. After several such incidents with Whites in South Africa, Gandhi's thinking and focus changed, and he felt he must resist this and fight for rights. He entered politics by forming the Natal Indian Congress.[82] According to Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed, Gandhi's views on racism are contentious, and in some cases, distressing to those who admire him. Gandhi suffered persecution from the beginning in South Africa. Like with other coloured people, white officials denied him his rights, and the press and those in the streets bullied and called him a "parasite", "semi-barbarous", "canker", "squalid coolie", "yellow man", and other epithets. People would spit on him as an expression of racial hate.[83]
While in South Africa, Gandhi focused on racial persecution of Indians but ignored those of Africans. In some cases, state Desai and Vahed, his behaviour was one of being a willing part of racial stereotyping and African exploitation.[83] During a speech in September 1896, Gandhi complained that the whites in the British colony of South Africa were degrading Indian Hindus and Muslims to "a level of Kaffir".[84] Scholars cite it as an example of evidence that Gandhi at that time thought of Indians and black South Africans differently.[83] As another example given by Herman, Gandhi, at age 24, prepared a legal brief for the Natal Assembly in 1895, seeking voting rights for Indians. Gandhi cited race history and European Orientalists' opinions that "Anglo-Saxons and Indians are sprung from the same Aryan stock or rather the Indo-European peoples", and argued that Indians should not be grouped with the Africans.[73]
Years later, Gandhi and his colleagues served and helped Africans as nurses and by opposing racism, according to the Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela. The general image of Gandhi, state Desai and Vahed, has been reinvented since his assassination as if he was always a saint, when in reality his life was more complex, contained inconvenient truths and was one that evolved over time.[83] In contrast, other Africa scholars state the evidence points to a rich history of co-operation and efforts by Gandhi and Indian people with nonwhite South Africans against persecution of Africans and the Apartheid.[85]
In 1906, when the British declared war against the Zulu Kingdom in Natal, Gandhi at age 36, sympathised with the Zulus and encouraged the Indian volunteers to help as an ambulance unit.[86] He argued that Indians should participate in the war efforts to change attitudes and perceptions of the British people against the coloured people.[87] Gandhi, a group of 20 Indians and black people of South Africa volunteered as a stretcher-bearer corps to treat wounded British soldiers and the opposite side of the war: Zulu victims.
White soldiers stopped Gandhi and team from treating the injured Zulu, and some African stretcher-bearers with Gandhi were shot dead by the British. The medical team commanded by Gandhi operated for less than two months.[86] Gandhi volunteering to help as a "staunch loyalist" during the Zulu and other wars made no difference in the British attitude, states Herman, and the African experience was a part of his great disillusionment with the West, transforming him into an "uncompromising non-cooperator".[87]
In 1910, Gandhi established, with the help of his friend Hermann Kallenbach, an idealistic community they named "Tolstoy Farm" near Johannesburg.[88] There he nurtured his policy of peaceful resistance.[89]
In the years after black South Africans gained the right to vote in South Africa (1994), Gandhi was proclaimed a national hero with numerous monuments.[90]
Struggle for Indian independence (1915–1947)
At the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, conveyed to him by C. F. Andrews, Gandhi returned to India in 1915. He brought an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist and community organiser.
Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress and was introduced to Indian issues, politics and the Indian people primarily by Gokhale. Gokhale was a key leader of the Congress Party best known for his restraint and moderation, and his insistence on working inside the system. Gandhi took Gokhale's liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and transformed it to make it look Indian.[91]
Gandhi took leadership of the Congress in 1920 and began escalating demands until on 26 January 1930 the Indian National Congress declared the independence of India. The British did not recognise the declaration but negotiations ensued, with the Congress taking a role in provincial government in the late 1930s. Gandhi and the Congress withdrew their support of the Raj when the Viceroy declared war on Germany in September 1939 without consultation. Tensions escalated until Gandhi demanded immediate independence in 1942 and the British responded by imprisoning him and tens of thousands of Congress leaders. Meanwhile, the Muslim League did co-operate with Britain and moved, against Gandhi's strong opposition, to demands for a totally separate Muslim state of Pakistan. In August 1947 the British partitioned the land with India and Pakistan each achieving independence on terms that Gandhi disapproved.[92]
Role in World War I
In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi.[93] Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war effort.[94][95] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled "Appeal for Enlistment", Gandhi wrote "To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use them... If we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible despatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army."[96] He did, however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroy's private secretary that he "personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe."[97]
Gandhi's war recruitment campaign brought into question his consistency on nonviolence. Gandhi's private secretary noted that "The question of the consistency between his creed of 'Ahimsa' (nonviolence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been discussed ever since."[94]
Champaran agitations
Gandhi's first major achievement came in 1917 with the Champaran agitation in Bihar. The Champaran agitation pitted the local peasantry against their largely British landlords who were backed by the local administration. The peasantry was forced to grow Indigofera, a cash crop for Indigo dye whose demand had been declining over two decades, and were forced to sell their crops to the planters at a fixed price. Unhappy with this, the peasantry appealed to Gandhi at his ashram in Ahmedabad. Pursuing a strategy of nonviolent protest, Gandhi took the administration by surprise and won concessions from the authorities.[98]
Kheda agitations
In 1918, Kheda was hit by floods and famine and the peasantry was demanding relief from taxes. Gandhi moved his headquarters to Nadiad,[99] organising scores of supporters and fresh volunteers from the region, the most notable being Vallabhbhai Patel.[100] Using non-co-operation as a technique, Gandhi initiated a signature campaign where peasants pledged non-payment of revenue even under the threat of confiscation of land. A social boycott of mamlatdars and talatdars (revenue officials within the district) accompanied the agitation. Gandhi worked hard to win public support for the agitation across the country. For five months, the administration refused but finally in end-May 1918, the Government gave way on important provisions and relaxed the conditions of payment of revenue tax until the famine ended. In Kheda, Vallabhbhai Patel represented the farmers in negotiations with the British, who suspended revenue collection and released all the prisoners.[101]
Khilafat movement
In 1919, following World War I, Gandhi (aged 49) sought political co-operation from Muslims in his fight against British imperialism by supporting the Ottoman Empire that had been defeated in the World War. Before this initiative of Gandhi, communal disputes and religious riots between Hindus and Muslims were common in British India, such as the riots of 1917–18. Gandhi had already supported the British crown with resources and by recruiting Indian soldiers to fight the war in Europe on the British side. This effort of Gandhi was in part motivated by the British promise to reciprocate the help with swaraj (self-government) to Indians after the end of World War I.[102] The British government, instead of self government, had offered minor reforms instead, disappointing Gandhi.[103] Gandhi announced his satyagraha (civil disobedience) intentions. The British colonial officials made their counter move by passing the Rowlatt Act, to block Gandhi's movement. The Act allowed the British government to treat civil disobedience participants as criminals and gave it the legal basis to arrest anyone for "preventive indefinite detention, incarceration without judicial review or any need for a trial".[104]
Gandhi felt that Hindu-Muslim co-operation was necessary for political progress against the British. He leveraged the Khilafat movement, wherein Sunni Muslims in India, their leaders such as the sultans of princely states in India and Ali brothers championed the Turkish Caliph as a solidarity symbol of Sunni Islamic community (ummah). They saw the Caliph as their means to support Islam and the Islamic law after the defeat of Ottoman Empire in World War I.[105][106][107] Gandhi's support to the Khilafat movement led to mixed results. It initially led to a strong Muslim support for Gandhi. However, the Hindu leaders including Rabindranath Tagore questioned Gandhi's leadership because they were largely against recognising or supporting the Sunni Islamic Caliph in Turkey.[104][108][109]
The increasing Muslim support for Gandhi, after he championed the Caliph's cause, temporarily stopped the Hindu-Muslim communal violence. It offered evidence of inter-communal harmony in joint Rowlatt satyagraha demonstration rallies, raising Gandhi's stature as the political leader to the British.[110][111] His support for the Khilafat movement also helped him sideline Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who had announced his opposition to the satyagraha non-cooperation movement approach of Gandhi. Jinnah began creating his independent support, and later went on to lead the demand for West and East Pakistan.[112][113]
By the end of 1922 the Khilafat movement had collapsed.[114] Turkey's Ataturk had ended the Caliphate, Khilafat movement ended, and Muslim support for Gandhi largely evaporated.[106][107] Muslim leaders and delegates abandoned Gandhi and his Congress.[115] Hindu-Muslim communal conflicts reignited. Deadly religious riots re-appeared in numerous cities, with 91 in United Provinces of Agra and Oudh alone
Fern Britton
Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957)[3] is an English television presenter and author. She came to national attention when she presented Ready Steady Cook between 1994 and 2000 on BBC One. She later presented ITV's This Morning programme from 1999 to 2009. In 2012, she participated in Strictly Come Dancing, where she was paired with professional dancer Artem Chigvintsev. Since 2010 she has also published a number of bestselling novels and books of short stories and non-fiction.
Britton was born in Ealing, London, to English actor Tony Britton and his first wife, Ruth Hawkins. She attended Dr Challoner's High School in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire and the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she trained in stage management.
Career
Early work as a presenter
After working with The Cambridge Theatre Company, Britton began her broadcasting career in March 1980 in Plymouth working for Westward Television, the then-incumbent ITV regional company, as a continuity announcer and newsreader on the nightly local bulletin Westward Diary. After Westward lost its franchise at the end of 1981, Britton moved to the local BBC headquarters as a presenter with Spotlight in the South West, before moving to BBC One's Breakfast Time where she became the BBC's youngest-ever national news presenter.
Britton then went on to work at TVS in Southampton, co-hosting the South edition of the news programme Coast to Coast with Fred Dinenage, as well as Coast to Coast People, The Television Show, Magic Moments and, as presenter with Stefan Buczacki, of That's Gardening. She stayed until the demise of TVS in December 1992.
In January 1993, she joined London News Network's London Tonight, before moving in April 1993 to GMTV to present the post-9:00 am slot, Top of the Morning. Britton moved back to Carlton Television to present After Five in 1994. She also appeared in the first two series of The Brian Conley Show.
ITV
Britton had guest presented This Morning since 1993, but from September 1999 she became a full-time host presenting the Friday edition with John Leslie. In 2002 Fern became the main host of the series along with John Leslie and, later, with Phillip Schofield.[4]
In 2006, Britton co-presented the reality television show Soapstar Superstar. On 31 May 2007, she hosted the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall and she also co-hosted The British Soap Awards from 2006 until 2008 with Phillip Schofield.
In 2007, Britton presented her own ITV Saturday night series called That's What I Call Television. In each show, she was joined by a celebrity co-host who selected their favourite TV moments from the 1980s and then reunited some of the original stars of selected shows. Julian Clary was her first co-host, followed by Matthew Kelly on the second show, and finally Bradley Walsh for the third. In December 2007, a Christmas edition was broadcast with co-host Ronnie Corbett, and a week later another was broadcast, this time with Desmond Lynam.
From 2008 until 2010, Britton co-presented a revival of the ITV show Mr & Mrs; this time it was an "All Star" version. She co-hosted the show with Phillip Schofield.
In November 2008, Britton announced she was to take a break from This Morning and return after the Christmas break in January 2009.[5][6] Britton announced on 25 March 2009 that she was leaving This Morning, after 10 years, at the end of the current series.[7] Two days after quitting This Morning, Britton pulled out of hosting the 2009 British Soap Awards alongside co-host Phillip Schofield.[8]
On 17 July 2009, Britton's 52nd birthday, her farewell This Morning programme was aired. Britton made her comeback to ITV in 2017, presenting daytime series Culinary Genius.[9] She also presented A Right Royal Quiz for the channel.[10]
BBC
From 1994, Britton presented the television cookery gameshow Ready Steady Cook, which she continued until 2000. Britton has also appeared twice as a panellist on the BBC panel show, Have I Got News for You, which she also, twice, guest presented on 27 April 2007 and on 17 October 2008. In 2009, Britton returned to the BBC and was a team captain on the BBC One trivia panel show As Seen on TV.
Since 2009, Britton hosted a series for BBC One called Fern Britton Meets... in which she interviewed high-profile personalities about their religious beliefs. The series attracted particular attention for an interview with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which he said he still would have thought it right that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein be removed even without evidence he had weapons of mass destruction.[11]
Since 2014, Britton has presented The Big Allotment Challenge for BBC Two. The series was commissioned for a second series which aired in early 2015. In January 2016, she began presenting the BBC One antiques game show For What It's Worth.
Channel 4
On 2 November 2009, Britton appeared as a stand-in host on The Paul O'Grady Show for two weeks.
On 2 February 2011, it was confirmed that Britton would be taking over the 5:00 pm chatshow slot on Channel 4 that Paul O'Grady previously hosted. The show, Fern,[12] began on 28 March 2011. The programme drew low audience figures and was reported to be facing a revamp, change of timeslot or cancellation after its second week on air.[13] The show has since been confirmed as axed in its present form but Britton may work on other projects for Channel 4.[14]
Strictly Come Dancing
Main article: Strictly Come Dancing
On 10 September 2012, Britton was confirmed as one of the 14 celebrities taking part in the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Her professional partner was Artem Chigvintsev.
Other work
In 1988, Britton took part in a Cinderella pantomime in which she played the role of Dandini at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. She was presenting Coast to Coast from the city at the time and her preparation for the part was filmed for the programme.
Britton has starred in advertisements for several companies and causes, including appearances as herself in advertisements for several Ryvita Minis, and in the 2007 What's it going to take? campaign for the charitable organisation Women's Aid.
March 1998 saw the launch of Britton's first book, Fern's Family Favourites, published by André Deutsch and written with the cook and home economist Susie Magasiner. In November 2008, Fern, My Story was published by Michael Joseph. It went straight into The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller list where it remained for 12 weeks.[citation needed] Britton has written 6 novels New Beginnings, Hidden Treasures, The Holiday Home, A Seaside Affair, A Good Catch and The Postcard to Date (November 2016). All have been in The Sunday Times bestseller list. In 2016, she signed a three-book deal with the publishers HarperCollins and is working on a television script.
In May 2011, Britton played herself in a short independently made film by Mark Davenport called Photoshopping alongside lead Joan Kempson.[citation needed]
In January 2018, it was announced that Britton would play Marie in the touring production of 'Calendar Girls The Musical'.[15]
Personal life
Britton was formerly married to TV executive Clive Jones. The couple met while Jones was still married and began an affair. Britton broke off their affair after a year but Jones turned up on her doorstep two days later, after leaving his wife for her. The couple married on 12 November 1988 in Southsea and have three children together: twin sons Jack and Harry (born 1994) and daughter Grace (born 1997). Her marriage to Jones disintegrated shortly afterwards and the couple separated in January 1998.[16] A year later, Britton began dating celebrity chef Phil Vickery after they met on the set of BBC Two's Ready Steady Cook. After her divorce was finalised, they married in spring 2000.[17] The couple have a daughter, Winnie (born August 2001), and currently live in Buckinghamshire. The pair announced on their Twitter accounts on 29 January 2020 that they were separating after 20 years.
Bibliography
Novels
New Beginnings (2011)
Hidden Treasures (2012)
The Holiday Home (2013)
A Seaside Affair (2014)
A Good Catch (2015)
The Postcard (2016)
Coming Home (2018)
The Newcomer (2019)
Short stories
The Stolen Weekend (2014)
A Cornish Carol (2014)
The Beach Cabin (2015)
A Cornish Gift (2017)
Non-fiction
Fern’s Family Favourites (1998)
Winter Treats and Summer Delights (with Susie Magasiner) (1999)
Fern and Phil's Family Food (with Phil Vickery) (2003)
Fern: The Autobiography (2008)
Britton was born in Ealing, London, to English actor Tony Britton and his first wife, Ruth Hawkins. She attended Dr Challoner's High School in Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire and the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she trained in stage management.
Career
Early work as a presenter
After working with The Cambridge Theatre Company, Britton began her broadcasting career in March 1980 in Plymouth working for Westward Television, the then-incumbent ITV regional company, as a continuity announcer and newsreader on the nightly local bulletin Westward Diary. After Westward lost its franchise at the end of 1981, Britton moved to the local BBC headquarters as a presenter with Spotlight in the South West, before moving to BBC One's Breakfast Time where she became the BBC's youngest-ever national news presenter.
Britton then went on to work at TVS in Southampton, co-hosting the South edition of the news programme Coast to Coast with Fred Dinenage, as well as Coast to Coast People, The Television Show, Magic Moments and, as presenter with Stefan Buczacki, of That's Gardening. She stayed until the demise of TVS in December 1992.
In January 1993, she joined London News Network's London Tonight, before moving in April 1993 to GMTV to present the post-9:00 am slot, Top of the Morning. Britton moved back to Carlton Television to present After Five in 1994. She also appeared in the first two series of The Brian Conley Show.
ITV
Britton had guest presented This Morning since 1993, but from September 1999 she became a full-time host presenting the Friday edition with John Leslie. In 2002 Fern became the main host of the series along with John Leslie and, later, with Phillip Schofield.[4]
In 2006, Britton co-presented the reality television show Soapstar Superstar. On 31 May 2007, she hosted the Classical Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall and she also co-hosted The British Soap Awards from 2006 until 2008 with Phillip Schofield.
In 2007, Britton presented her own ITV Saturday night series called That's What I Call Television. In each show, she was joined by a celebrity co-host who selected their favourite TV moments from the 1980s and then reunited some of the original stars of selected shows. Julian Clary was her first co-host, followed by Matthew Kelly on the second show, and finally Bradley Walsh for the third. In December 2007, a Christmas edition was broadcast with co-host Ronnie Corbett, and a week later another was broadcast, this time with Desmond Lynam.
From 2008 until 2010, Britton co-presented a revival of the ITV show Mr & Mrs; this time it was an "All Star" version. She co-hosted the show with Phillip Schofield.
In November 2008, Britton announced she was to take a break from This Morning and return after the Christmas break in January 2009.[5][6] Britton announced on 25 March 2009 that she was leaving This Morning, after 10 years, at the end of the current series.[7] Two days after quitting This Morning, Britton pulled out of hosting the 2009 British Soap Awards alongside co-host Phillip Schofield.[8]
On 17 July 2009, Britton's 52nd birthday, her farewell This Morning programme was aired. Britton made her comeback to ITV in 2017, presenting daytime series Culinary Genius.[9] She also presented A Right Royal Quiz for the channel.[10]
BBC
From 1994, Britton presented the television cookery gameshow Ready Steady Cook, which she continued until 2000. Britton has also appeared twice as a panellist on the BBC panel show, Have I Got News for You, which she also, twice, guest presented on 27 April 2007 and on 17 October 2008. In 2009, Britton returned to the BBC and was a team captain on the BBC One trivia panel show As Seen on TV.
Since 2009, Britton hosted a series for BBC One called Fern Britton Meets... in which she interviewed high-profile personalities about their religious beliefs. The series attracted particular attention for an interview with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which he said he still would have thought it right that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein be removed even without evidence he had weapons of mass destruction.[11]
Since 2014, Britton has presented The Big Allotment Challenge for BBC Two. The series was commissioned for a second series which aired in early 2015. In January 2016, she began presenting the BBC One antiques game show For What It's Worth.
Channel 4
On 2 November 2009, Britton appeared as a stand-in host on The Paul O'Grady Show for two weeks.
On 2 February 2011, it was confirmed that Britton would be taking over the 5:00 pm chatshow slot on Channel 4 that Paul O'Grady previously hosted. The show, Fern,[12] began on 28 March 2011. The programme drew low audience figures and was reported to be facing a revamp, change of timeslot or cancellation after its second week on air.[13] The show has since been confirmed as axed in its present form but Britton may work on other projects for Channel 4.[14]
Strictly Come Dancing
Main article: Strictly Come Dancing
On 10 September 2012, Britton was confirmed as one of the 14 celebrities taking part in the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Her professional partner was Artem Chigvintsev.
Other work
In 1988, Britton took part in a Cinderella pantomime in which she played the role of Dandini at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. She was presenting Coast to Coast from the city at the time and her preparation for the part was filmed for the programme.
Britton has starred in advertisements for several companies and causes, including appearances as herself in advertisements for several Ryvita Minis, and in the 2007 What's it going to take? campaign for the charitable organisation Women's Aid.
March 1998 saw the launch of Britton's first book, Fern's Family Favourites, published by André Deutsch and written with the cook and home economist Susie Magasiner. In November 2008, Fern, My Story was published by Michael Joseph. It went straight into The Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller list where it remained for 12 weeks.[citation needed] Britton has written 6 novels New Beginnings, Hidden Treasures, The Holiday Home, A Seaside Affair, A Good Catch and The Postcard to Date (November 2016). All have been in The Sunday Times bestseller list. In 2016, she signed a three-book deal with the publishers HarperCollins and is working on a television script.
In May 2011, Britton played herself in a short independently made film by Mark Davenport called Photoshopping alongside lead Joan Kempson.[citation needed]
In January 2018, it was announced that Britton would play Marie in the touring production of 'Calendar Girls The Musical'.[15]
Personal life
Britton was formerly married to TV executive Clive Jones. The couple met while Jones was still married and began an affair. Britton broke off their affair after a year but Jones turned up on her doorstep two days later, after leaving his wife for her. The couple married on 12 November 1988 in Southsea and have three children together: twin sons Jack and Harry (born 1994) and daughter Grace (born 1997). Her marriage to Jones disintegrated shortly afterwards and the couple separated in January 1998.[16] A year later, Britton began dating celebrity chef Phil Vickery after they met on the set of BBC Two's Ready Steady Cook. After her divorce was finalised, they married in spring 2000.[17] The couple have a daughter, Winnie (born August 2001), and currently live in Buckinghamshire. The pair announced on their Twitter accounts on 29 January 2020 that they were separating after 20 years.
Bibliography
Novels
New Beginnings (2011)
Hidden Treasures (2012)
The Holiday Home (2013)
A Seaside Affair (2014)
A Good Catch (2015)
The Postcard (2016)
Coming Home (2018)
The Newcomer (2019)
Short stories
The Stolen Weekend (2014)
A Cornish Carol (2014)
The Beach Cabin (2015)
A Cornish Gift (2017)
Non-fiction
Fern’s Family Favourites (1998)
Winter Treats and Summer Delights (with Susie Magasiner) (1999)
Fern and Phil's Family Food (with Phil Vickery) (2003)
Fern: The Autobiography (2008)
Alastair Stewart
Alastair James Stewart OBE (born 22 June 1952) is an English journalist and newscaster, formerly presenting for ITV News.
Stewart joined Southern Television in 1976 then joined ITN in 1980 where he served 3 years with Channel 4 News and then went on to become a main newsreader with ITV News. He remained in this role for more than 35 years, making him the longest serving male newsreader on British television having worked in both the local news, and the national news for 44 years.
He is a patron of a number of charities including Kids for Kids – helping children in Darfur,[1] disability charity Scope[2] and Brooke – action for working horses and donkeys
Early life
Stewart was born in Gosport, Hampshire[4] to a Scottish father from Invergarry and an English mother. Both of his parents served in the Royal Air Force.[5][6]
Stewart was educated in Scotland, at the state school Madras College, St. Andrews, Fife, then in England at the independent school Salesian College, Farnborough, Hampshire and at St. Augustine's Abbey School in Ramsgate, Kent,[7] followed by the University of Bristol, where he studied economics and politics[7][8] and worked for the National Union of Students from 1974–76.[8]
Career
1970s
Stewart's career in television started in 1976 with ITV's south of England company Southern Television in Southampton.[9] He was a reporter, industrial correspondent, presenter and documentary maker. He recorded one of the last interviews with Lord Mountbatten before he was assassinated by the IRA in 1979,[10] and spent six weeks in Ford Open Prison to make a half-hour documentary.[8]
1980s
He joined ITN in 1980 as industrial correspondent,[8] soon joining its roster of additional newsreaders. From 1983[9] to 1986, he was a presenter and reporter with ITN's Channel 4 News, and also presented ITN's News at 5.45.
Stewart provided live coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster as the details of the tragedy unfolded.[9] A two-minute newsflash became an unscripted, one-hour special programme. He also anchored, with Sandy Gall, the award-winning coverage on ITN on the night of the bombing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie[9] and presented the ITV network coverage of the memorial service for the victims.
He moved again in May 1989, to ITN's flagship News at Ten bulletin,[9] which he anchored live from the fall of the Berlin Wall, before spending a year in the United States as ITN's Washington correspondent. Four days after returning from his assignment in Washington he was sent to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to anchor ITN's coverage of the Gulf War. He presented News at Ten, live from Saudi Arabia for two months. At the end of February, Stewart became the first British television reporter to broadcast live from the liberated Kuwait City. He presented News at Ten from Kuwait for a week before returning to the UK.
1990s
ITN's network coverage of the 1992 Budget saw the ninth year of Stewart's involvement in the presentation of the annual event for ITV.[10] It was his fifth year anchoring the programme having replaced Sir Alastair Burnet, who retired from ITN in 1991.
During his time with ITN, he has also provided the commentary for many of its other special programmes on the ITV network including the State Openings of Parliament, numerous by-elections, state visits and for the Royal Weddings of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer and The Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson.
From 1993 to September 2009, he was the co-presenter of ITV London's regional news programme London Tonight.
He has also presented Alastair Stewart's Sunday for BBC Radio 5 in 1994. Then in 1995, he joined GMTV, where he anchored Alastair Stewart's Sunday Programme until 2001.
Stewart has also presented Police Camera Action!, which originally started in 1994, on ITV, showing video footage of examples of road crime from police cars. In 2003, he was dropped from this role after his second conviction for drink driving. He was more than three times over the legal limit when his car crashed in Hampshire.[11] Episodes that had already been recorded for broadcast in 2002 were finally shown in January 2006. Later, in September 2007, a new series of Police Camera Action! had returned to screens, primarily with new presenter Adrian Simpson, but with Stewart being reinstated to introduce and conclude each episode.[citation needed]
Stewart made a brief appearance on Bad Girls, as a news reporter who reported character Monica Lindsay's successful appeal. He also appeared as himself in a scene cut from the 1999 film Notting Hill, interviewing William Thacker's (Hugh Grant) flatmate Spike (Rhys Ifans). The scene appears as a DVD extra.
2000s
Stewart was a presenter on the now defunct ITV News Channel for the 2003 Iraq War presenting a weekday programme called Live with Alastair Stewart.
He has also been a regular presence in ITV's national election coverage, co-anchoring their network coverage of the general elections of 2005 (with Jonathan Dimbleby), 1997 (with Dimbleby and Michael Brunson), 1992 (with Jon Snow) and 1987 with Alastair Burnet. He was the main anchor of Election Night Live: America Decides, ITV's through-the-night programme covering the 2008 US Presidential Elections.
In February 2007, he became co-presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News, replacing Nicholas Owen. The bulletin was revamped in July 2009, from which point Stewart became one of two main alternate newscasters for the programme. Also in 2007, he hosted a political programme for ITV, Moral of the Story, which aired at various late times on Sunday nights, but was decommissioned after failing to attract substantial viewing figures.
In August 2009, it was announced that he would become main co-presenter of the ITV Evening News, relinquishing his role as presenter of London Tonight. This came into effect from 7 September 2009. It was also announced simultaneously that he would be the main presenter of ITV's general election results programme in 2010.[12]
Stewart is a fan of the band The Rolling Stones, winning Celebrity Mastermind on 29 December 2009 with them as his specialist subject.[citation needed]
2010s
On 15 April 2010, Stewart moderated the first ever United Kingdom political leaders debates between the Prime Ministerial candidates in the 2010 general election, featuring the incumbent Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, debating on live television. Three debates were to take place, produced by ITV, the BBC and Sky. By random lots, ITV drew the first debate, and chose Stewart to act as moderator.
Stewart received honorary doctorates from the University of Plymouth in September 2010, from the University of Winchester in 2011,[13] and from the University of Sunderland in 2012.[14]
On 28 December 2014, Stewart presented a one-off ITV documentary called Unbelievable Moments: Caught on Camera. The programme returned for further episodes in January 2016 and 2017.[15]
In 2015, Stewart made his West End theatrical debut in An Evening with Lucian Freud by Laura-Jane Foley.[16] He played a hapless interviewer appearing on video alongside Cressida Bonas, Russell Grant and Maureen Lipman.[17]
In June 2015, it was announced that, as part of a wider restructure at ITV News, Mark Austin would return to the ITV Evening News full-time, alongside Mary Nightingale from October 2015. Alastair Stewart continues to appear on the programme as a relief newscaster, alongside his duties on the ITV Lunchtime News.[18] Coinciding with the main presenter line-up, the programme is once again being referred to as the ITV Evening News.[19]
He presented ITV News coverage of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[20]
2020s
On 29 January 2020, Stewart voluntarily stepped down as an ITV News presenter following "errors of judgement" in his use of social media. He had quoted from Measure for Measure using the phrase "angry ape" while addressing a black man with whom he had disagreed on Twitter. Stewart deleted his Twitter account before the announcement was made.[21]
Personal life
In 2003, Stewart was banned from driving for 23 months and fined £3,000; he had been arrested, charged and convicted of drink driving after crashing into a hedge and telegraph pole whilst three times over the drink drive limit.[22]
Stewart has been married to Sally Ann Jung since 1978 and has four children. Stewart lives in Hampshire.[23]
Charity
Stewart is an active supporter of a number of charities, including Kids for Kids which helps villages in Darfur.[1] He is Vice President of both NCH Action for Children and Home-Start, and Patron of Naomi House & Jacksplace, hospices for children and young adults, near Winchester. He is also Patron for Brooke - Action for working horses and donkeys.[24]
Stewart has appeared twice on the celebrity editions of game show The Chase. His first appearance was on 19 October 2013. His second appearance was a Text Santa special on 20 December 2013 and featured his fellow ITV News presenters Romilly Weeks, Matt Barbet, and Charlene White.
Awards and honours
The Face of London Award at the 2002 Royal Television Society awards.
Presenter of the Year Award at the 2004 Royal Television Society awards for his live coverage of the Beslan siege.
News presenter of the Year at the 2005 RTS awards for his ITV News Channel programme Live with Alastair Stewart.
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2006 for services to broadcasting and charity.
Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2008 by the University of Bristol for services to broadcasting.
Stewart joined Southern Television in 1976 then joined ITN in 1980 where he served 3 years with Channel 4 News and then went on to become a main newsreader with ITV News. He remained in this role for more than 35 years, making him the longest serving male newsreader on British television having worked in both the local news, and the national news for 44 years.
He is a patron of a number of charities including Kids for Kids – helping children in Darfur,[1] disability charity Scope[2] and Brooke – action for working horses and donkeys
Early life
Stewart was born in Gosport, Hampshire[4] to a Scottish father from Invergarry and an English mother. Both of his parents served in the Royal Air Force.[5][6]
Stewart was educated in Scotland, at the state school Madras College, St. Andrews, Fife, then in England at the independent school Salesian College, Farnborough, Hampshire and at St. Augustine's Abbey School in Ramsgate, Kent,[7] followed by the University of Bristol, where he studied economics and politics[7][8] and worked for the National Union of Students from 1974–76.[8]
Career
1970s
Stewart's career in television started in 1976 with ITV's south of England company Southern Television in Southampton.[9] He was a reporter, industrial correspondent, presenter and documentary maker. He recorded one of the last interviews with Lord Mountbatten before he was assassinated by the IRA in 1979,[10] and spent six weeks in Ford Open Prison to make a half-hour documentary.[8]
1980s
He joined ITN in 1980 as industrial correspondent,[8] soon joining its roster of additional newsreaders. From 1983[9] to 1986, he was a presenter and reporter with ITN's Channel 4 News, and also presented ITN's News at 5.45.
Stewart provided live coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster as the details of the tragedy unfolded.[9] A two-minute newsflash became an unscripted, one-hour special programme. He also anchored, with Sandy Gall, the award-winning coverage on ITN on the night of the bombing of the Pan Am jet over Lockerbie[9] and presented the ITV network coverage of the memorial service for the victims.
He moved again in May 1989, to ITN's flagship News at Ten bulletin,[9] which he anchored live from the fall of the Berlin Wall, before spending a year in the United States as ITN's Washington correspondent. Four days after returning from his assignment in Washington he was sent to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, to anchor ITN's coverage of the Gulf War. He presented News at Ten, live from Saudi Arabia for two months. At the end of February, Stewart became the first British television reporter to broadcast live from the liberated Kuwait City. He presented News at Ten from Kuwait for a week before returning to the UK.
1990s
ITN's network coverage of the 1992 Budget saw the ninth year of Stewart's involvement in the presentation of the annual event for ITV.[10] It was his fifth year anchoring the programme having replaced Sir Alastair Burnet, who retired from ITN in 1991.
During his time with ITN, he has also provided the commentary for many of its other special programmes on the ITV network including the State Openings of Parliament, numerous by-elections, state visits and for the Royal Weddings of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer and The Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson.
From 1993 to September 2009, he was the co-presenter of ITV London's regional news programme London Tonight.
He has also presented Alastair Stewart's Sunday for BBC Radio 5 in 1994. Then in 1995, he joined GMTV, where he anchored Alastair Stewart's Sunday Programme until 2001.
Stewart has also presented Police Camera Action!, which originally started in 1994, on ITV, showing video footage of examples of road crime from police cars. In 2003, he was dropped from this role after his second conviction for drink driving. He was more than three times over the legal limit when his car crashed in Hampshire.[11] Episodes that had already been recorded for broadcast in 2002 were finally shown in January 2006. Later, in September 2007, a new series of Police Camera Action! had returned to screens, primarily with new presenter Adrian Simpson, but with Stewart being reinstated to introduce and conclude each episode.[citation needed]
Stewart made a brief appearance on Bad Girls, as a news reporter who reported character Monica Lindsay's successful appeal. He also appeared as himself in a scene cut from the 1999 film Notting Hill, interviewing William Thacker's (Hugh Grant) flatmate Spike (Rhys Ifans). The scene appears as a DVD extra.
2000s
Stewart was a presenter on the now defunct ITV News Channel for the 2003 Iraq War presenting a weekday programme called Live with Alastair Stewart.
He has also been a regular presence in ITV's national election coverage, co-anchoring their network coverage of the general elections of 2005 (with Jonathan Dimbleby), 1997 (with Dimbleby and Michael Brunson), 1992 (with Jon Snow) and 1987 with Alastair Burnet. He was the main anchor of Election Night Live: America Decides, ITV's through-the-night programme covering the 2008 US Presidential Elections.
In February 2007, he became co-presenter of the ITV Lunchtime News, replacing Nicholas Owen. The bulletin was revamped in July 2009, from which point Stewart became one of two main alternate newscasters for the programme. Also in 2007, he hosted a political programme for ITV, Moral of the Story, which aired at various late times on Sunday nights, but was decommissioned after failing to attract substantial viewing figures.
In August 2009, it was announced that he would become main co-presenter of the ITV Evening News, relinquishing his role as presenter of London Tonight. This came into effect from 7 September 2009. It was also announced simultaneously that he would be the main presenter of ITV's general election results programme in 2010.[12]
Stewart is a fan of the band The Rolling Stones, winning Celebrity Mastermind on 29 December 2009 with them as his specialist subject.[citation needed]
2010s
On 15 April 2010, Stewart moderated the first ever United Kingdom political leaders debates between the Prime Ministerial candidates in the 2010 general election, featuring the incumbent Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, debating on live television. Three debates were to take place, produced by ITV, the BBC and Sky. By random lots, ITV drew the first debate, and chose Stewart to act as moderator.
Stewart received honorary doctorates from the University of Plymouth in September 2010, from the University of Winchester in 2011,[13] and from the University of Sunderland in 2012.[14]
On 28 December 2014, Stewart presented a one-off ITV documentary called Unbelievable Moments: Caught on Camera. The programme returned for further episodes in January 2016 and 2017.[15]
In 2015, Stewart made his West End theatrical debut in An Evening with Lucian Freud by Laura-Jane Foley.[16] He played a hapless interviewer appearing on video alongside Cressida Bonas, Russell Grant and Maureen Lipman.[17]
In June 2015, it was announced that, as part of a wider restructure at ITV News, Mark Austin would return to the ITV Evening News full-time, alongside Mary Nightingale from October 2015. Alastair Stewart continues to appear on the programme as a relief newscaster, alongside his duties on the ITV Lunchtime News.[18] Coinciding with the main presenter line-up, the programme is once again being referred to as the ITV Evening News.[19]
He presented ITV News coverage of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum.[20]
2020s
On 29 January 2020, Stewart voluntarily stepped down as an ITV News presenter following "errors of judgement" in his use of social media. He had quoted from Measure for Measure using the phrase "angry ape" while addressing a black man with whom he had disagreed on Twitter. Stewart deleted his Twitter account before the announcement was made.[21]
Personal life
In 2003, Stewart was banned from driving for 23 months and fined £3,000; he had been arrested, charged and convicted of drink driving after crashing into a hedge and telegraph pole whilst three times over the drink drive limit.[22]
Stewart has been married to Sally Ann Jung since 1978 and has four children. Stewart lives in Hampshire.[23]
Charity
Stewart is an active supporter of a number of charities, including Kids for Kids which helps villages in Darfur.[1] He is Vice President of both NCH Action for Children and Home-Start, and Patron of Naomi House & Jacksplace, hospices for children and young adults, near Winchester. He is also Patron for Brooke - Action for working horses and donkeys.[24]
Stewart has appeared twice on the celebrity editions of game show The Chase. His first appearance was on 19 October 2013. His second appearance was a Text Santa special on 20 December 2013 and featured his fellow ITV News presenters Romilly Weeks, Matt Barbet, and Charlene White.
Awards and honours
The Face of London Award at the 2002 Royal Television Society awards.
Presenter of the Year Award at the 2004 Royal Television Society awards for his live coverage of the Beslan siege.
News presenter of the Year at the 2005 RTS awards for his ITV News Channel programme Live with Alastair Stewart.
Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2006 for services to broadcasting and charity.
Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2008 by the University of Bristol for services to broadcasting.
داني روز
دانيال "داني" لي روز (بالإنجليزية:Danny Rose) (ولد في 2 يوليو 1990 دونكاستر، جنوب يوركشاير) هو لاعب كرة قدم إنجليزي يلعب لنادي توتنهام هوتسبر.
بدء مشوار حيه مع نادى ليدز يونايتد قي قطاع الناشئين حتى انتقله إلى نادى توتنهام
يوم 25 يوليو 2007، وقعت روز توتنهام عن قيمة الصفقة في منطقة £ 1,000,000. في مارس 2009 داني روز أعير إلى نادي واتفورد للفترة المتبقية من الموسم 2008-09. يوم 29 سبتمبر 2009، وانضم روز إلى نادى بيتربرو على سبيل الاعارة حتى يناير 2010. روز عاد إلى توتنهام في 11 نوفمبر 2009. لعب روز مبارة كامله لاول مرة لتوتنهام في كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي (2-2) ضد ناديه السابق ليدز يونايتد. واستهجن روز من قبل مشجعي ناديه السابق. قدم روز لاول مرة في الدوري الممتاز ضد ارسنال، وسجل الهدف الأول في المباراة بعد عشر دقائق حيث فاز توتنهام 2-1 في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز يوم 14 أبريل 2010 ووصف الهدف بأنه "من تسديدة مدوية حتى يتسنى لك سماع صوت حزاءه فوق ضجيج صاخب من الجمهور " في صحيفة التايمز واستشهد بها كواحد من أهداف الموسم من قبل المعلق اندي غراي.
بدء مشوار حيه مع نادى ليدز يونايتد قي قطاع الناشئين حتى انتقله إلى نادى توتنهام
يوم 25 يوليو 2007، وقعت روز توتنهام عن قيمة الصفقة في منطقة £ 1,000,000. في مارس 2009 داني روز أعير إلى نادي واتفورد للفترة المتبقية من الموسم 2008-09. يوم 29 سبتمبر 2009، وانضم روز إلى نادى بيتربرو على سبيل الاعارة حتى يناير 2010. روز عاد إلى توتنهام في 11 نوفمبر 2009. لعب روز مبارة كامله لاول مرة لتوتنهام في كأس الاتحاد الإنجليزي (2-2) ضد ناديه السابق ليدز يونايتد. واستهجن روز من قبل مشجعي ناديه السابق. قدم روز لاول مرة في الدوري الممتاز ضد ارسنال، وسجل الهدف الأول في المباراة بعد عشر دقائق حيث فاز توتنهام 2-1 في الدوري الإنجليزي الممتاز يوم 14 أبريل 2010 ووصف الهدف بأنه "من تسديدة مدوية حتى يتسنى لك سماع صوت حزاءه فوق ضجيج صاخب من الجمهور " في صحيفة التايمز واستشهد بها كواحد من أهداف الموسم من قبل المعلق اندي غراي.
Danny Rose
Daniel Lee Rose (born 2 July 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left back for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur and the England national team.
Rose started his professional career at Leeds United in 2006, having progressed through the club's youth ranks, but left for current club Tottenham Hotspur in July 2007, having never played for Leeds. Having failed to break into the first team, he joined Watford on loan in March 2009, making seven appearances, and then joined Peterborough United on loan in September 2009. Having made six appearances for Peterborough, he returned to Tottenham, and made his debut for the latter club. Having still been unable to establish himself as a regular player, he joined Bristol City on loan in September 2010, and made 17 appearances. Although Rose became more involved in the Tottenham team during the 2011–12 season, making 20 appearances in all competitions, he spent the following season on loan to Sunderland, where he made 29 appearances.
Rose played for England at the under-17 and under-19 levels before making his under-21 debut in 2009. Since then, he established himself in the team, making 29 appearances. He earned his first senior cap in a 3–2 victory against Germany in 2016.
Club career
Leeds United
Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Rose is a product of the Leeds United youth academy.[2] Rose was named on the bench for the Leeds first team against Barnet in the League Cup on 20 September 2006. The manager who named Rose on the bench, Kevin Blackwell, was dismissed immediately after the match.[4] Rose was not involved again in a squad for Leeds that season.[5] Leeds were subsequently relegated from The Championship to League One,[6] and with the club entering administration, Rose was sold to raise some much needed money for the club.[5]
Tottenham Hotspur
Rose started his professional career at Leeds United in 2006, having progressed through the club's youth ranks, but left for current club Tottenham Hotspur in July 2007, having never played for Leeds. Having failed to break into the first team, he joined Watford on loan in March 2009, making seven appearances, and then joined Peterborough United on loan in September 2009. Having made six appearances for Peterborough, he returned to Tottenham, and made his debut for the latter club. Having still been unable to establish himself as a regular player, he joined Bristol City on loan in September 2010, and made 17 appearances. Although Rose became more involved in the Tottenham team during the 2011–12 season, making 20 appearances in all competitions, he spent the following season on loan to Sunderland, where he made 29 appearances.
Rose played for England at the under-17 and under-19 levels before making his under-21 debut in 2009. Since then, he established himself in the team, making 29 appearances. He earned his first senior cap in a 3–2 victory against Germany in 2016.
Club career
Leeds United
Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Rose is a product of the Leeds United youth academy.[2] Rose was named on the bench for the Leeds first team against Barnet in the League Cup on 20 September 2006. The manager who named Rose on the bench, Kevin Blackwell, was dismissed immediately after the match.[4] Rose was not involved again in a squad for Leeds that season.[5] Leeds were subsequently relegated from The Championship to League One,[6] and with the club entering administration, Rose was sold to raise some much needed money for the club.[5]
Tottenham Hotspur
On 25 July 2007, Tottenham Hotspur signed Rose for a transfer fee in the region of £1 million.[7] A regular for both the Academy and Reserves, Rose was named as an unused substitute for the league fixture against Sunderland in January 2008.[8] His progress was temporarily curtailed, however, by a serious knee injury in September of the same year. Rose made his first start for Spurs in 2–2 FA Cup draw against his former club Leeds United in January 2010.[9]
Rose made his league debut against Arsenal, scoring the first goal of the match after ten minutes as Tottenham won 2–1 in the Premier League on 14 April 2010.[10] The goal was subsequently described as "a volley so thunderous that you could hear the whack off his boot above the din of the raucous crowd" in The Times.[11] Rose won Goal of the Season, with votes run by Sky Sports and by the Tottenham website.[12][13] On 7 May 2011, Rose started against Blackpool to fill in for regular left back Benoît Assou-Ekotto, although playing out of his usual position, he was specifically praised by manager Harry Redknapp for his performance in the 1–1 draw.[14] Rose would continue to fill in at left back for the remaining three matches of the season, turning in excellent performances in a narrow loss to Manchester City and wins over Liverpool and Birmingham City.[15][16][17]
Loan moves 2009 to 2012
In March 2009, Rose went on loan to Watford for the remainder of the 2008–09 season.[18] Watford manager Brendan Rodgers described Rose as a "highly talented, committed player" who possesses "good energy and real intelligence with the ball."[19] He made his debut in Watford's 2–1 away victory at Doncaster Rovers on 4 April 2009.[20]
On 29 September 2009, Rose joined Peterborough United on loan until January 2010.[21] He then went into that night's team where they played Plymouth Argyle, losing 2–1 at home.[22] Rose returned to Tottenham on 11 November 2009,[23] following the departure of Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson.
On 9 September 2010, Rose joined Championship club Bristol City on a season-long loan deal subject to a recall clause which becomes active after 28 days at the club.[24] On 13 November, Rose came on as a second-half substitute against Leeds United and was booed by the home supporters. The match was the first time he had played at Elland Road after leaving the club.[25] Rose returned to Tottenham Hotspur in February 2011 after a series of minor injuries had limited his impact and appearances at Bristol City.[26]
On 31 August 2012, Rose joined Premier League club Sunderland on a season-long loan from Spurs.[27] Rose played his debut against Liverpool on 15 September 2012.[28] Rose scored his first goal for Sunderland in an away match at Aston Villa on 29 April 2013.[29] Rose returned to Tottenham after being named the club's young player of the season to undergo surgery on a wrist injury in May 2013.[30]
2013–14 season
On 22 August 2013 at the beginning of the season, Tottenham went away to Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia where Rose scored in the play-off first leg which ended in a 5–0 win.[31] Tottenham qualified for the group stage of the Europa League and in September, their first home match against Tromsø Rose suffered an injury.[32] Rose didn't return to training till mid-December.[33]
Rose missed the match where Tottenham suffered a 5–0 home defeat to Liverpool which subsequently saw André Villas-Boas dismissed as manager.[34][35] On 22 December with Villas-Boas gone Rose returned to first-team football under Tim Sherwood where Tottenham went away to Southampton and won 3–2.[36]
Towards the end of the season after six away matches without a win Rose scored the only goal of the match with a header in the 33rd minute against Stoke City to earn Tottenham three points.[37] On 31 July 2014, Rose signed a five-year contract with Tottenham.[38] In the 2014 summer transfer window Tottenham signed Ben Davies which would be competition in the left back role as well as providing cover if Rose got injured.[39]
2014–15 season
On 1 January 2015, Rose scored his first goal of the season in Tottenham's 5–3 Premier League victory over Chelsea at White Hart Lane.[40] Rose scored again for Tottenham in the FA Cup third-round replay against Burnley at home, netting the final goal in a 4–2 victory.[41] He added to his tally in the Premier League on 22 February against West Ham United, scoring Spurs' first in a 2–2 draw.[42] He started as Tottenham lost 2–0 to Chelsea in the 2015 League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on 1 March.[43] On 16 May, Rose scored his final goal of the campaign in a 2–0 home victory over Hull City,[44] which effectively left the Tigers needing a win at home against Manchester United to survive relegation which they failed to do.[45]
2015–16 season
Rose was named as captain by manager Mauricio Pochettino for the first time in his career in a 2015–16 FA Cup match against Leicester City on 10 January 2016.[46]
On 28 February 2016, Rose scored the winning goal in a 2–1 home victory over Swansea City as Tottenham closed the gap on league leaders Leicester City. This was also his first goal of the season.[47]
2016–17 season
On 22 September 2016, Rose signed a new contract with the Tottenham Hotspur until 2021.[48][unreliable source?] He scored his first goal of the season on 27 August to earn Tottenham a point in a 1–1 draw against Liverpool.[49] He continued to perform strongly for Spurs, putting many important performances in during the first half of the season and on 18 December, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win against Burnley after completing a one-two with summer signing Moussa Sissoko.[50] On 31 January 2017 Spurs went away to Sunderland in the Premier League where during the match Rose suffered knee ligament damage.[51] In March the Evening Standard reported that Rose was expected to return in the beginning of April.[52] Although still out injured, Rose was named as left back in the PFA Team of the Year on 20 April 2017 for the second consecutive season.[53] In May 2017, Tottenham announced that Rose "has undergone exploratory surgery on his left knee" and will not return until next season.[54]
2017–18 season
In October 2017 Rose returned to first team training after being out injured for over 9 months.[55] He made his first appearance of the 2017–18 season as a substitute in the UEFA Champions League away game against Real Madrid that ended in a 1–1 draw.[56] He made his first start of the season in a 1–0 home win against Crystal Palace in early November.[57]
2018–19 season
In April 2019 he said he was looking forward to ending his football career due to racism in 5 or 6 years.[58] Later that month he said he hoped governing bodies would take more action to eradicate racism in football.[59] In June he started in the Champions League Final against Liverpool,[60] which Tottenham lost.[61]
2019–20 season
Rose was not included in the Tottenham squad for the 2019 International Champions Cup. The club stated that “Danny Rose has been granted additional time off in order to explore prospective opportunities with other clubs.”[62] However, no move materialised for Rose, and on 10 August 2019 he started in Tottenham's first game of the season, a 3–1 victory against Aston Villa.[63]
International career
England U21s
On 1 June 2009, Rose was called into the England under-21 team for the European Championships taking place later in the month when striker Danny Welbeck was ruled out through injury.[64] He made his debut with a substitute appearance in a 7–0 friendly win over Azerbaijan on 8 June.[65]
Rose scored his first goal for England U-21s on 14 November 2009 in a 2011 European Championship qualifier win against Portugal.[66] His second goal came in a 2–0 victory against Uzbekistan on 10 August 2010.[67] His third goal for the team came on 5 June 2011 in a 2–0 win against Norway, the final warm-up match before the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.[68]
On 16 October 2012, Rose was shown a red card during a 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-off match against Serbia, after he kicked a football into the crowd after the match had finished.[69] Rose had been racially abused by members of the crowd throughout the match and after the match whilst celebrating the victory with his England teammates, which sparked a mass brawl between players and coaching staff of both teams.[70]
Great Britain Olympic football team
On 2 July 2012, Rose was named in Stuart Pearce's final 18-man Great Britain Olympic football squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[71]
England senior team
On 28 August 2014, Rose was named in the senior England squad for the first time, ahead of a friendly against Norway and a Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland in September, but did not feature.[citation needed] Rose made his debut as a starter in a 3–2 away win over Germany in a friendly on 26 March 2016.[72]
Rose was previously eligible to play for Jamaica through his Jamaican grandfather, and was contacted by the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) in early 2015 over the possibility of representing Jamaica at international level.[73][74]
He was named in the 23-man England national team squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Norton Motorcycles
The Norton Motorcycle Company (formerly Norton Motors, Ltd.) is an English motorcycle marque, originally from Birmingham, England, UK. It was founded in 1898 as a manufacturer of "fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade".[1] By 1902 the company had begun manufacturing motorcycles with bought-in engines. In 1908 a Norton-built engine was added to the range. This began a long series of production of single and eventually twin-cylinder motorcycles, and a long history of racing involvement.
Production of the military Model 16 H and Big 4 sidevalve motorcycles was Norton's contribution to the WWII war effort, almost 100,000 being manufactured.
When major shareholders started to leave Norton in 1953 the company declined and Associated Motor Cycles bought the shares.[2] Although motorcycle sales went through a recession in the 1950s, and Norton Motors Ltd was only a small manufacturer, Norton sales flourished. A series of Norton Dominator Twins of 500 cc, then 600 cc, then 650 cc and then the 750 cc Norton Atlas kept sales buoyant, especially with sales to the United States.
In 1968 the new 750 cc Norton Commando Model appeared, with the engine/gearbox/swingarm unit isolastically insulated from the frame with a series of rubber mountings. This kept the vibrations from the rider, giving a smooth comfortable ride. The Commando was a best seller, and voted #1 Motorcycle of the Year a number of times in Britain. 850 cc models appeared for 1973, giving more torque. For 1975 an electric start arrived in the 850 Mk3.
The largest UK motorcycle manufacturer at the time was BSA-Triumph, comprising Birmingham Small Arms Company in Birmingham, and Triumph Motorcycles in Meriden. BSA-Triumph faced difficulties caused by poor management, outdated union practices, old-fashioned motorcycle designs and antiquated factory conditions. A merger with Norton Motorcycles was proposed; but although Dennis Poore's Norton Motorcycles was by far the smaller partner, Poore effectively secured a take-over of BSA-Triumph, forming Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT). The Triumph factory Meriden was the least modern; but workers engaged in a "sit-in", forming a workers' co-operative. Poore was CEO of Manganese Bronze Holdings, a company apparently more concerned with asset stripping than with motorcycle production. Subsequent political manoeuvrings led to the downfall of NVT, as taxpayer-assisted wranglings over amalgamations and sell-offs all but killed the once extensive UK motorcycle industry.
In late 2008, Stuart Garner, a UK businessman, bought the rights to Norton from some US concerns and relaunched Norton in its Midlands home at Donington Park where it will develop the 961cc Norton Commando and a new range of Norton motorcycles.[3]
On 29 January 2020, it was announced that the company had gone into administration because £300,000 outstanding in unpaid taxes was due to HM Revenue and Customs from an original amount of £600,000.[4][5] Administrators BDO were appointed by Metro Bank, with company representatives stating that £135,000 in "outstanding research and development tax relief" was overdue, and would substantially reduce the amount owed. The court case was adjourned until mid-February.[6][5]
The original company was formed by James Lansdowne Norton (known as "Pa") at 320, Bradford Street, Birmingham, in 1898.[1] In 1902 Norton began building motorcycles with French and Swiss engines. In 1907 a Norton ridden by Rem Fowler won the twin-cylinder class in the first Isle of Man TT race, beginning a sporting tradition that went on until the 1960s. The first Norton engines were made in 1907, with production models available from 1908. These were the 3.5 hp (490 cc) and the 'Big 4' (633cc), beginning a line of side-valve single-cylinder engines which continued with few changes until the late 1950s.[2]
The first Norton logo was a fairly simple, art nouveau design, with the name spelled in capitals.[7] However, a new logo appeared on the front of the catalogue for 1914, which was a joint effort by James Norton and his daughter Ethel. It became known as the "curly N" logo, with only the initial letter as a capital, and was used by the company thereafter, first appearing on actual motorcycles in 1915.[8] Ethel Norton also did some testing of her father's motorcycles.[citation needed]
In 1913 the business declined, and R. T. Shelley & Co., the main creditors, intervened and saved it. Norton Motors Ltd was formed shortly afterwards under joint directorship of James Norton and Bob Shelley. Shelley's brother-in-law was tuner Dan O'Donovan, and he managed to set a significant number of records on the Norton by 1914 when the war broke out - and as competition motorcycling was largely suspended during the hosilities, these records still stood when production restarted after the war.[9] 1914 Dan O'Donovan records set in April 1914 :
Under 500 cc flying km 81.06 mph, flying mile 78.60 mph - 490 cc Norton
Under 750 cc flying km and flying mile see above
Under 500 cc with sidecar flying km 65.65 mph, flying mile 62.07 mph - 490 cc Norton
Under 750 cc with sidecar flying km and flying mile see above
On 17 July 1914 O'Donovan also took the flying 5 mile record at 75.88 mph, and the standing start 10 mile record at 73.29 mph, again on the 490 cc Norton.
First World War
Norton continued production of their 3.5 hp and Big 4 singles well into the war period, though in November 1916 the Ministry of Munitions issued an order that no further work on motor cycles or cars would be allowed from 15 November 1916 without a permit.[10] By this time most motor cycle companies were already either producing munitions (or aircraft parts), or devoted to the export trade. Norton were involved in exporting and earlier that year had announced[11] a new 'Colonial Model' of their 633cc Big 4. This featured an increase in ground clearance from 4.25" to 6.5", by altering the frame, larger tank, greater clearance on mudguards, and a sturdy rear carrier. The engine was unaltered, and transmission was via a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed gearbox.
In February 1918, Motor Cycle reported[12] on a visit to Norton Motors. Mr Norton had stated that he expected three post-war models, the 3.5 hp 490 cc TT with belt drive (for the 'speed merchant'), and two utility mounts, one with detuned TT engine, and the other being the Big Four for very heavy solo or sidecar work, both of these with three-speed Sturmey-Archer countershaft gearbox and all chain drive. It was also stated that he had been experimenting with aluminium pistons, and that Norton had produced a book of driving hints which also contained details of their Military and Empire models.
In May 1918, Norton stated in one of their adverts[13] that 'The ministry are taking the whole of our present output, but we have a waiting list' - this advert also uses the "Unapproachable Norton" phrase. Few Norton WD models appear in the For Sale column of The Motor Cycle after the war, suggesting they were shipped abroad, apparently one order going to the Russian Army [1]. The 1913–1917 Red Book[14] listing UK Motor, Marine and Aircraft production shows Norton dropped from a full range in 1916, to only the Military Big Four in 1917.
Inter-War years
Norton resumed deliveries of civilian motorcycles in April 1919 with models aimed at motorcyclists who enjoyed the reliability and performance offered by long-stroke single-cylinder engines with separate gearboxes.
Norton also resumed racing and in 1924 the Isle of Man Senior TT was the first win with a race average speed over 60 mph, rider Alec Bennett. Norton won this event ten times until they withdrew from racing in 1938.
J.L. Norton died in 1925 aged only 56, but he saw his motorcycles win the Senior and sidecar TTs in 1924,[15] specifically with the 500 cc Model 18, Norton's first overhead valve single.[16]
Designed by Walter Moore, the Norton CS1 engine appeared in 1927, based closely on the ES2 pushrod engine and using many of its parts. Moore was hired away to NSU in 1930, after which Arthur Carroll designed an entirely new OHC engine destined to become the basis for all later OHC and DOHC Norton singles. (Moore's move to NSU prompted his former staff to quip NSU stood for "Norton Spares Used") The Norton racing legend began in the 1930s. Of the nine Isle of Man Senior TTs (500 cc) between 1931 and 1939, Norton won seven.[17]
Until 1934 Norton bought Sturmey-Archer gearboxes and clutches. When Sturmey discontinued production Norton bought the design rights and had them made by Burman, a manufacturer of proprietary gearboxes.
Norton started making military motorcycles again in 1936 after a tender process in 1935 where a modified Norton 16H beat contenders. From 900 in 1936 to 2000 in 1937, Norton was ahead of the competition as war loomed, and there was good reason in terms of spares and maintenance for the military to keep to the same model. Between 1937 and 1945 nearly a quarter (over 100,000) of all British military motorcycles were Nortons, basically the WD 16H (solo) and WD Big Four outfit with driven sidecar wheel.[2]
Post-war
The Isle of Man Senior TT successes continued after the war, with Nortons winning every year from 1947 to 1954.
After the Second World War, Norton reverted to civilian motorcycle production, gradually increasing its range. A major addition in 1949 was the twin cylinder Model 7, known as the Norton Dominator, a pushrod 500 cc twin-cylinder machine designed by Bert Hopwood. Its chassis was derived from the ES2 single, with telescopic front and plunger rear suspension, and an updated version of the gearbox known as the "lay-down" box. More shapely mudguards and tanks completed the more modern styling to Nortons new premium model twin.
Norton struggled to reclaim its pre-WWII racing dominance as the single-cylinder machine faced fierce competition from the multi-cylinder Italian machines and AJS from the UK. In the 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, the first year of the world championship, Norton made only fifth place and AJS won. That was before the Featherbed frame appeared, developed for Norton by the McCandless brothers of Belfast in January 1950, used in the legendary Manx Norton and raced by riders including Geoff Duke, John Surtees and Derek Minter. Very quickly the featherbed frame, a design that allowed the construction of a motorcycle with good mass-stiffness distribution,[18] became a benchmark by which all other frames were judged.[17]
Norton also experimented with engine placement, and discovered that moving the engine slightly up/down, forward/back, or even right/left, could deliver a "sweet spot" in terms of handling. Motorcycle designers still use this method to fine-tune motorcycle handling.[19]
In 1951 the Norton Dominator was made available to export markets as the Model 88 with the Featherbed frame. Later, as production of this frame increased, it became a regular production model, and was made in variants for other models, including the OHV single-cylinder machines.
Manx Nortons also played a significant role in the development of post war car racing. At the end of 1950, the English national 500 cc regulations were adopted as the new Formula 3. The JAP Speedway engine had dominated the category initially but the Manx was capable of producing significantly more power and became the engine of choice. Many complete motorcycles were bought in order to strip the engine for 500 cc car racing, as Norton would not sell separate engines.
The racing successes were transferred to the street through cafe racers, some of which would use the featherbed frame with an engine from another manufacturer to make a hybrid machine with the best of both worlds. The most famous of these were Tritons - Triumph twin engines in a Norton featherbed frame.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the racing successes Norton was in financial difficulty. Reynolds could not make many of the highly desired Featherbed frames and customers lost interest in buying machines with the older frames. In 1953 Norton sold out to Associated Motorcycles (AMC), who owned the brands AJS, Matchless, Francis-Barnett and James. In 1962 the Norton factory in Bracebridge Street, Birmingham was closed and production was moved to AMC's Woolwich factory in south-east London.
Under AMC ownership a much improved version of the Norton gearbox was developed, to be used on all the larger models of AJS, Matchless and Norton. Again, the major changes were for improved gear selection. In September 1955 a 600 cc Dominator 99 was launched. The 1946 to 1953 Long Stroke Manx Norton was 79.6 mm × 100 mm (3.1 in × 3.9 in) initially SOHC, the DOHC engine becoming available to favoured racers in 1949. The Short Stroke model (1953 to 1962) had bore and stroke of 86 mm × 85.6 mm (3.4 in × 3.4 in). It used a dry sump 499 cc single-cylinder motor, with two valves operated by bevel drive, shaft driven twin overhead camshafts. Compression ratio was 11:1. It had an Amal GP carburettor, and a Lucas racing magneto. The 1962 500 cc Manx Nortons produced 50 bhp (37 kW) at 6,780rpm, weighed 142 kg (313 lb), and had a top speed of 209 km/h (130 mph).
In 1960, a new version of the road-going Featherbed frame was developed in which the upper frame rails were bent inwards to reduce the width between the rider's knees for greater comfort. The move was also to accommodate the shorter rider as the wide frame made it difficult to reach the ground. This frame is known as the "slimline" frame; the earlier frames then became known as the "wideline".
The last Manx Nortons were sold in 1963. Even though Norton had pulled out of Grand Prix racing in 1954, the race-shop at Bracebridge Street continued until 1962, and the Manx became a mainstay of privateer racing, and even today are highly sought after, commanding high prices.
On 7 November 1960 the first new 650 cc Norton Manxman was launched for the American market only. By September 1961 the Norton 650SS appeared for the UK market, the 750 cc (Atlas). By 20 April 1962 for the American market as they demanded more power,[clarification needed] but the increases to the vertical twin engine's capacity caused a vibration problem at 5500 rpm. A 500 cc vertical twin is smoother than a single-cylinder, but if the vertical twin's capacity is enlarged vibration increases. The 750 Norton Atlas proved too expensive and costs could not be reduced. Financial problems gathered.[20]
There was an export bike primarily for use as a desert racer, sold up until 1969 as the Norton P11,[21] AJS Model 33, Matchless G15 and Norton N15 which used the Norton Atlas engine in a modified Matchless G85CS scrambler frame with Norton wheels and front forks. This bike was reputed to vibrate less than the Featherbed frame model. AMC singles were also sold with Norton badging in this era.[22]
Also during this period Norton developed a family of three similar smaller-capacity twin cylinder machines: first the Norton Jubilee 250 and then the Navigator 350 and the Electra 400, which had an electric starter. These models were Norton's first use of unit construction. The engine was an entirely new design by Bert Hopwood and the frame and running gear were from the Francis-Barnett range, also owned by AMC. These machines had a reputation for poor reliability.
Production of the military Model 16 H and Big 4 sidevalve motorcycles was Norton's contribution to the WWII war effort, almost 100,000 being manufactured.
When major shareholders started to leave Norton in 1953 the company declined and Associated Motor Cycles bought the shares.[2] Although motorcycle sales went through a recession in the 1950s, and Norton Motors Ltd was only a small manufacturer, Norton sales flourished. A series of Norton Dominator Twins of 500 cc, then 600 cc, then 650 cc and then the 750 cc Norton Atlas kept sales buoyant, especially with sales to the United States.
In 1968 the new 750 cc Norton Commando Model appeared, with the engine/gearbox/swingarm unit isolastically insulated from the frame with a series of rubber mountings. This kept the vibrations from the rider, giving a smooth comfortable ride. The Commando was a best seller, and voted #1 Motorcycle of the Year a number of times in Britain. 850 cc models appeared for 1973, giving more torque. For 1975 an electric start arrived in the 850 Mk3.
The largest UK motorcycle manufacturer at the time was BSA-Triumph, comprising Birmingham Small Arms Company in Birmingham, and Triumph Motorcycles in Meriden. BSA-Triumph faced difficulties caused by poor management, outdated union practices, old-fashioned motorcycle designs and antiquated factory conditions. A merger with Norton Motorcycles was proposed; but although Dennis Poore's Norton Motorcycles was by far the smaller partner, Poore effectively secured a take-over of BSA-Triumph, forming Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT). The Triumph factory Meriden was the least modern; but workers engaged in a "sit-in", forming a workers' co-operative. Poore was CEO of Manganese Bronze Holdings, a company apparently more concerned with asset stripping than with motorcycle production. Subsequent political manoeuvrings led to the downfall of NVT, as taxpayer-assisted wranglings over amalgamations and sell-offs all but killed the once extensive UK motorcycle industry.
In late 2008, Stuart Garner, a UK businessman, bought the rights to Norton from some US concerns and relaunched Norton in its Midlands home at Donington Park where it will develop the 961cc Norton Commando and a new range of Norton motorcycles.[3]
On 29 January 2020, it was announced that the company had gone into administration because £300,000 outstanding in unpaid taxes was due to HM Revenue and Customs from an original amount of £600,000.[4][5] Administrators BDO were appointed by Metro Bank, with company representatives stating that £135,000 in "outstanding research and development tax relief" was overdue, and would substantially reduce the amount owed. The court case was adjourned until mid-February.[6][5]
The original company was formed by James Lansdowne Norton (known as "Pa") at 320, Bradford Street, Birmingham, in 1898.[1] In 1902 Norton began building motorcycles with French and Swiss engines. In 1907 a Norton ridden by Rem Fowler won the twin-cylinder class in the first Isle of Man TT race, beginning a sporting tradition that went on until the 1960s. The first Norton engines were made in 1907, with production models available from 1908. These were the 3.5 hp (490 cc) and the 'Big 4' (633cc), beginning a line of side-valve single-cylinder engines which continued with few changes until the late 1950s.[2]
The first Norton logo was a fairly simple, art nouveau design, with the name spelled in capitals.[7] However, a new logo appeared on the front of the catalogue for 1914, which was a joint effort by James Norton and his daughter Ethel. It became known as the "curly N" logo, with only the initial letter as a capital, and was used by the company thereafter, first appearing on actual motorcycles in 1915.[8] Ethel Norton also did some testing of her father's motorcycles.[citation needed]
In 1913 the business declined, and R. T. Shelley & Co., the main creditors, intervened and saved it. Norton Motors Ltd was formed shortly afterwards under joint directorship of James Norton and Bob Shelley. Shelley's brother-in-law was tuner Dan O'Donovan, and he managed to set a significant number of records on the Norton by 1914 when the war broke out - and as competition motorcycling was largely suspended during the hosilities, these records still stood when production restarted after the war.[9] 1914 Dan O'Donovan records set in April 1914 :
Under 500 cc flying km 81.06 mph, flying mile 78.60 mph - 490 cc Norton
Under 750 cc flying km and flying mile see above
Under 500 cc with sidecar flying km 65.65 mph, flying mile 62.07 mph - 490 cc Norton
Under 750 cc with sidecar flying km and flying mile see above
On 17 July 1914 O'Donovan also took the flying 5 mile record at 75.88 mph, and the standing start 10 mile record at 73.29 mph, again on the 490 cc Norton.
First World War
Norton continued production of their 3.5 hp and Big 4 singles well into the war period, though in November 1916 the Ministry of Munitions issued an order that no further work on motor cycles or cars would be allowed from 15 November 1916 without a permit.[10] By this time most motor cycle companies were already either producing munitions (or aircraft parts), or devoted to the export trade. Norton were involved in exporting and earlier that year had announced[11] a new 'Colonial Model' of their 633cc Big 4. This featured an increase in ground clearance from 4.25" to 6.5", by altering the frame, larger tank, greater clearance on mudguards, and a sturdy rear carrier. The engine was unaltered, and transmission was via a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed gearbox.
In February 1918, Motor Cycle reported[12] on a visit to Norton Motors. Mr Norton had stated that he expected three post-war models, the 3.5 hp 490 cc TT with belt drive (for the 'speed merchant'), and two utility mounts, one with detuned TT engine, and the other being the Big Four for very heavy solo or sidecar work, both of these with three-speed Sturmey-Archer countershaft gearbox and all chain drive. It was also stated that he had been experimenting with aluminium pistons, and that Norton had produced a book of driving hints which also contained details of their Military and Empire models.
In May 1918, Norton stated in one of their adverts[13] that 'The ministry are taking the whole of our present output, but we have a waiting list' - this advert also uses the "Unapproachable Norton" phrase. Few Norton WD models appear in the For Sale column of The Motor Cycle after the war, suggesting they were shipped abroad, apparently one order going to the Russian Army [1]. The 1913–1917 Red Book[14] listing UK Motor, Marine and Aircraft production shows Norton dropped from a full range in 1916, to only the Military Big Four in 1917.
Inter-War years
Norton resumed deliveries of civilian motorcycles in April 1919 with models aimed at motorcyclists who enjoyed the reliability and performance offered by long-stroke single-cylinder engines with separate gearboxes.
Norton also resumed racing and in 1924 the Isle of Man Senior TT was the first win with a race average speed over 60 mph, rider Alec Bennett. Norton won this event ten times until they withdrew from racing in 1938.
J.L. Norton died in 1925 aged only 56, but he saw his motorcycles win the Senior and sidecar TTs in 1924,[15] specifically with the 500 cc Model 18, Norton's first overhead valve single.[16]
Designed by Walter Moore, the Norton CS1 engine appeared in 1927, based closely on the ES2 pushrod engine and using many of its parts. Moore was hired away to NSU in 1930, after which Arthur Carroll designed an entirely new OHC engine destined to become the basis for all later OHC and DOHC Norton singles. (Moore's move to NSU prompted his former staff to quip NSU stood for "Norton Spares Used") The Norton racing legend began in the 1930s. Of the nine Isle of Man Senior TTs (500 cc) between 1931 and 1939, Norton won seven.[17]
Until 1934 Norton bought Sturmey-Archer gearboxes and clutches. When Sturmey discontinued production Norton bought the design rights and had them made by Burman, a manufacturer of proprietary gearboxes.
Norton started making military motorcycles again in 1936 after a tender process in 1935 where a modified Norton 16H beat contenders. From 900 in 1936 to 2000 in 1937, Norton was ahead of the competition as war loomed, and there was good reason in terms of spares and maintenance for the military to keep to the same model. Between 1937 and 1945 nearly a quarter (over 100,000) of all British military motorcycles were Nortons, basically the WD 16H (solo) and WD Big Four outfit with driven sidecar wheel.[2]
Post-war
The Isle of Man Senior TT successes continued after the war, with Nortons winning every year from 1947 to 1954.
After the Second World War, Norton reverted to civilian motorcycle production, gradually increasing its range. A major addition in 1949 was the twin cylinder Model 7, known as the Norton Dominator, a pushrod 500 cc twin-cylinder machine designed by Bert Hopwood. Its chassis was derived from the ES2 single, with telescopic front and plunger rear suspension, and an updated version of the gearbox known as the "lay-down" box. More shapely mudguards and tanks completed the more modern styling to Nortons new premium model twin.
Norton struggled to reclaim its pre-WWII racing dominance as the single-cylinder machine faced fierce competition from the multi-cylinder Italian machines and AJS from the UK. In the 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, the first year of the world championship, Norton made only fifth place and AJS won. That was before the Featherbed frame appeared, developed for Norton by the McCandless brothers of Belfast in January 1950, used in the legendary Manx Norton and raced by riders including Geoff Duke, John Surtees and Derek Minter. Very quickly the featherbed frame, a design that allowed the construction of a motorcycle with good mass-stiffness distribution,[18] became a benchmark by which all other frames were judged.[17]
Norton also experimented with engine placement, and discovered that moving the engine slightly up/down, forward/back, or even right/left, could deliver a "sweet spot" in terms of handling. Motorcycle designers still use this method to fine-tune motorcycle handling.[19]
In 1951 the Norton Dominator was made available to export markets as the Model 88 with the Featherbed frame. Later, as production of this frame increased, it became a regular production model, and was made in variants for other models, including the OHV single-cylinder machines.
Manx Nortons also played a significant role in the development of post war car racing. At the end of 1950, the English national 500 cc regulations were adopted as the new Formula 3. The JAP Speedway engine had dominated the category initially but the Manx was capable of producing significantly more power and became the engine of choice. Many complete motorcycles were bought in order to strip the engine for 500 cc car racing, as Norton would not sell separate engines.
The racing successes were transferred to the street through cafe racers, some of which would use the featherbed frame with an engine from another manufacturer to make a hybrid machine with the best of both worlds. The most famous of these were Tritons - Triumph twin engines in a Norton featherbed frame.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the racing successes Norton was in financial difficulty. Reynolds could not make many of the highly desired Featherbed frames and customers lost interest in buying machines with the older frames. In 1953 Norton sold out to Associated Motorcycles (AMC), who owned the brands AJS, Matchless, Francis-Barnett and James. In 1962 the Norton factory in Bracebridge Street, Birmingham was closed and production was moved to AMC's Woolwich factory in south-east London.
Under AMC ownership a much improved version of the Norton gearbox was developed, to be used on all the larger models of AJS, Matchless and Norton. Again, the major changes were for improved gear selection. In September 1955 a 600 cc Dominator 99 was launched. The 1946 to 1953 Long Stroke Manx Norton was 79.6 mm × 100 mm (3.1 in × 3.9 in) initially SOHC, the DOHC engine becoming available to favoured racers in 1949. The Short Stroke model (1953 to 1962) had bore and stroke of 86 mm × 85.6 mm (3.4 in × 3.4 in). It used a dry sump 499 cc single-cylinder motor, with two valves operated by bevel drive, shaft driven twin overhead camshafts. Compression ratio was 11:1. It had an Amal GP carburettor, and a Lucas racing magneto. The 1962 500 cc Manx Nortons produced 50 bhp (37 kW) at 6,780rpm, weighed 142 kg (313 lb), and had a top speed of 209 km/h (130 mph).
In 1960, a new version of the road-going Featherbed frame was developed in which the upper frame rails were bent inwards to reduce the width between the rider's knees for greater comfort. The move was also to accommodate the shorter rider as the wide frame made it difficult to reach the ground. This frame is known as the "slimline" frame; the earlier frames then became known as the "wideline".
The last Manx Nortons were sold in 1963. Even though Norton had pulled out of Grand Prix racing in 1954, the race-shop at Bracebridge Street continued until 1962, and the Manx became a mainstay of privateer racing, and even today are highly sought after, commanding high prices.
On 7 November 1960 the first new 650 cc Norton Manxman was launched for the American market only. By September 1961 the Norton 650SS appeared for the UK market, the 750 cc (Atlas). By 20 April 1962 for the American market as they demanded more power,[clarification needed] but the increases to the vertical twin engine's capacity caused a vibration problem at 5500 rpm. A 500 cc vertical twin is smoother than a single-cylinder, but if the vertical twin's capacity is enlarged vibration increases. The 750 Norton Atlas proved too expensive and costs could not be reduced. Financial problems gathered.[20]
There was an export bike primarily for use as a desert racer, sold up until 1969 as the Norton P11,[21] AJS Model 33, Matchless G15 and Norton N15 which used the Norton Atlas engine in a modified Matchless G85CS scrambler frame with Norton wheels and front forks. This bike was reputed to vibrate less than the Featherbed frame model. AMC singles were also sold with Norton badging in this era.[22]
Also during this period Norton developed a family of three similar smaller-capacity twin cylinder machines: first the Norton Jubilee 250 and then the Navigator 350 and the Electra 400, which had an electric starter. These models were Norton's first use of unit construction. The engine was an entirely new design by Bert Hopwood and the frame and running gear were from the Francis-Barnett range, also owned by AMC. These machines had a reputation for poor reliability.
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